UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


-     I        I  ....  cc^^'-i 


-OUi-E-'^'^ 


THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF 
GREAT   BRITAIN 


ROBERT  MOSES,  B.  A.  Yale 
B.  A.  (Jurisprudence)  Oxon. 


SUBMITIED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 

FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPH^' 

IN  THE 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 
Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
I914 


THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF 
GREAT   BRITAIN 


ROBERT  MOSES,  B.  A.  Yale 
B.  A.  (Jurisprudence)  Oxon. 


SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

IN    THE 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 
Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
1914 


Copyright,  1914 

BY 

ROBERT  MOSES 


INTRODUCTION 

This  essay  is  not  an  exhaustive  history  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice of  England.  Its  object  is  to  present  the  steps  in  the 
reform  of  the  English  civil  service  with  particular  emphasis 
upon  the  success  of  competitive  examinations  and  of  the 
brilliant  and  farsighted  plan  to  attract  the  most  intelligent 
and  capable  young  men  in  universities  into  the  government 
service — a  plan  first  introduced  by  Macaulay  in  the  civil 
service  of  India  and  later  adopted  in  the  Home  service.  It 
may  be  said,  then,  that  in  this  study  the  emphasis  has  been 
upon  examinations,  personnel,  and  prospects,  rather  than 
upon  organization,  economy,  and  conduct  of  business.  In 
writing  this  monograph  the  author  has  had  constantly  in 
mind  the  influence  of  the  reformed  English  civil  service 
upon  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States. 

This  influence  begins  with  the  early  American  reformers, 
especially  with  the  American  author  of  the  only  existing 
complete  history  of  the  English  civil  service,  Dorman  B. 
Eaton,  our  first  United  States  Civil  Service  Commissioner. 
Mr.  Eaton  was  sent  by  President  Hayes  to  study  the  Eng- 
lish service,  with  a  view  to  refomiing  the  American  "spoils" 
system,  and  embodied  his  researches  in  Civil  Service  in 
Great  Britain.  This  book  was  a  leading  contribution  to  the 
reform  movement  which  resulted,  after  Garfield's  murder 
by  an  office  seeker,  in  the  Pendleton  Act '  for  open  competi- 
tion in  1883.  Mr.  Eaton  began  his  volume  with  the  Nor- 
man Conquest.     As  an  historical  work  it  leaves  much  to  be 

1  Mr.  Eaton  drew  up  the  Pendleton  bill. 
5]  5 


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ilf\ 


6  INTRODUCTION  [6 

desired;  but  as  a  campaign  document  there  is  something 
very  fine  and  effective  in  the  fiery  denunciation  of  old 
abuses,  patronage  and  graft  which  shows  more  clearly  than 
exact  scholarship  could  do  it,  how  greatly  Mr.  Eaton  was 
affected  by  the  question  of  American  reform. 

In  truth,  Mr.  Eaton's  honest  Americanism  rather  blinded 
him  to  the  true  inwardness  of  English  civil  service  democ- 
racy. Mr.  Eaton  was  able  to  carry  home  with  him  ideas 
of  open  competition  and  of  fair  promotion  which  were  of 
enormous  and  lasting  benefit  to  the  American  civil  service; 
but  the  essential  feature  of  an  upper,  highly-educated  divi- 
sion and  a  lower,  more  mechanical,  second  division — mark- 
ing the  definite  appeal  of  the  British  service  to  the  best 
scholars  of  British  universities — seems  to  have  made  no  real 
impression  on  Mr.  Eaton, ^  and  to  have  borne  no  fruit  in 

*  "  So  democratic  or  republican  an  innovation  as  that  of  opening  the 
whole  civil  service  to  the  free  competition  of  all  classes,  very  natur- 
ally, not  a  little  alarmed  the  more  aristocratic  officials;  and  they  were 
strong  enough  in  1870  to  enforce  a  division  of  the  new  clerks  into  two 
classes,  known  as  Class  I.  and  Class  II.,  the  attainments  ...  of  the 
former  to  be  of  a  higher  order.  .  .  .  We  shall  find  that  this  aristo- 
cratic distinction  has  been  disapproved  and  substantially  abolished  by 
that  same  just  and  liberal  sentiment  which  demanded  open  competition, 
though  not  before  it  had  produced  both  jealousies  and  expensive  com- 
plications." 

"  The  principle  of  free,  open  competition  is  repugnant  to  that  dis- 
tinction [the  division  into  two  classesl.  The  division  was  also  as  ob- 
jectionable by  reason  of  its  effect  upon  economy,  convenience,  and 
good  feeling  ...  as  it  was  on  the  score  of  justice  and  principle. 
Those  of  the  first  class  had  higher  salaries,  performed  higher  work, 
and  they  claimed  social  precedence;  though  they  might  be  morally 
and  intellectually  inferior  to  those  of  the  second  class.  ...  In  accord- 
ance with  the  scheme  of  the  report  of  1874,  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  two  classes  has  been  substantially  opened  to  merit,  and 
the  division  itself  must  soon.  I  think,  cease  to  exist."  Eaton,  Civil 
Service  in  Great  Britain,  pp.  235.  246. 

This  was  an  unfortunate  forecast  of  the  development  of  the  civil 
service  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  present  Home  and  Indian 


«]  INTRODUCTION  7 

the  early  reforms  which  he  helped  to  institute  in  the  United 
States.  Thus  we  have  still  in  Washington  a  civil  service 
which  offers  little  attraction  to  the  educated  young  uni- 
versity graduate. 

As  a  civil  service  reformer  Mr.  Eaton's  work  deserves 
the  highest  praise.  It  is  something  to  have  set  up  an  honest, 
competitive  civil  service,  though  its  standard  be  the  truly 
democratic  one  of  uniform  mediocrity;  but  such  democracy 
is  false  democracy,  and  until  we  have  a  service  which  at- 
tracts the  elite  of  our  young  men,  trained  for  intellectual 
work  and  on  a  higher  level  than  mechanical  clerks,  we  shall 
have  no  civil  service  worthy  of  the  name. 

On  the  question  of  universal  open  competition  also  Mr. 
Eaton  was  mistaken.  No  one  in  England  dreams  of  re- 
verting to  patronage  now.  Competition  is  the  general  rule ; 
but  time  has  shown  that  open  competition  is  not  feasible 
in  some  departments,  for  example,  for  lower  situations 
where  merely  physical  qualifications  are  necessary  or  for 
higher  positions  where  proved  technical  skill  or  business 
experience  are  requisites.  As  Graham  Wallas  shrewdly  ob- 
serves : 

The  invention  of  a  competitive  Civil  Service,  when  it  had 
once  been  made  and  adopted,  dropped  from  the  region  of 
severe  and  difficult  thought  in  which  it  originated,  and  took 
its  place  in  our  habitual  political  psychology.  We  now  half- 
consciously  conceive  of  the  Civil  Service  as  an  unchanging 
fact  whose  good  and  bad  points  are  to  be  taken  or  left  as  a 
whole.  Open  competition  has  by  the  same  process  become  a 
"  principle,"  conceived  of  as  applying  to  those  cases  to  which 

civil  service  examinations  and  of  a  university-bred  class  of  clerks  to 
do  the  intellectual  work  of  the  civil  service.  It  is  strange  that  Mr. 
Eaton  could  have  studied  the  later  reports  so  painstakingly  and  hon- 
estly, and  have  amassed  material  for  the  latter  two  hundred  pages  of 
his  book  without  discovering  the  essential  feature  of  a  division  of 
clerkships. 


8  INTRODUCTION  [8 

it  has  been  in  fact  applied,  and  to  no  others.  What  is  .  .  . 
for  the  moment  most  needed,  if  we  are  to  think  fruitfully  on 
the  subject,  is  that  we  should  in  our  minds  break  up  this  fact 
and  return  to  the  world  of  infinite  possible  variations.  We 
must  think  of  the  expedient  of  competition  itself  as  varying 
in  a  thousand  different  directions,  and  shading  by  impercep- 
tible gradations  into  other  methods  of  appointment ;  and  of  the 
posts  offered  for  competition  as  different  each  from  all  the 
rest,  as  overlapping  those  posts  for  which  competition  in  some 
form  is  suitable,  though  it  has  not  yet  been  tried,  and  as 
touching  at  the  marginal  point  on  their  curve  those  posts  for 
which  competition  is  unsuitable.  .  .  .  We  must  meanwhile 
cease  to  treat  the  existing  system  of  competition  by  the  hasty 
writing  of  answers  to  unexpected  examination  questions  as  an 
unchangeable  entity."  ^ 

Mr.  Wallas  probably  does  not  want  to  be  taken  too  liter- 
ally. England  is  not  so  advanced  in  political  morality  and 
her  statesmen  are  not  so  far  above  all  suggestion  of  either 
partiality  or  error,  that  she  can  afford  in  other  than  excep- 
tional cases  to  give  up  open  competition  or  written  exami- 
nations. Open  competition  and  written  examinations  have 
their  obvious  limitations;  but  they  are  looked  upon  every- 
where as  the  fairest  and  least  capricious  of  all  the  compe- 
titions of  life.  Even  if  limited  competition  or  nomination 
is  more  likely  to  secure  the  best  man,  open  competition  is 
almost  always  preferred  because  its  resulting  distinctions 
arc  mathematical  and  palpable.  Reject  a  capable  man  on 
the  score  of  written  examinations,  and  he  will  grumble; 
discriminate  however  justly  without  open  competition,  and 
you  make  bitter  enemies  and  public  agitators. 

Competition  there  always  will  be  of  one  kind  or  another, 
and  open  competition  where  it  is  possible.  The  burden  of 
proof  that  a  new  office  should  not  be  recruited  by  open 

'  Human  Nature  in  Politics,  pp.  255-256,  259. 


g^  INTRODUCTION  g 

competition  rests  heavily  on  the  man  who  thinks  that  the 
necessary  qualifications  can  be  best  ascertained  otherwise. 
The  division  of  the  upper  civil  service  into  two  classes,  the 
one  university-bred  and  academically  educated  to  do  the 
intellectual  work,  and  the  other  possessing  only  a  common- 
school  education  to  do  the  more  mechanical  work,  has  been 
modified,  like  the  '*  principle "  of  open  competition,  but 
has  withstood  all  the  assaults  of  those  mistaken  democrats 
who  would  abolish  the  first  class  and  wait,  as  they  have 
vainly  waited  in  the  United  States,  for  the  second  class  to 
develop  the  requisite  first  class  administrative  ability.  We 
shall  see  that  there  are  not  merely  two  classes  now;  in 
some  departments  there  is  an  intermediate  division  and 
there  are  new  classes  of  the  civil  service  with  new  standards 
of  their  own.  The  many  admirers  of  professional,  special- 
ized training  in  law,  economics  and  political  science,  and  of 
such  practical  apprenticeship  as  is  required  in  the  German 
civil  services,  have  made  a  determined  assault  on  the  acad- 
emic and  unprofessional  requirements  of  Macaulay;  but  in 
England,  as  well  as  in  India,  Macaulay's  plan  remains  sub- 
stantially in  force. 

The  thanks  of  the  author  are  due  to  Mr.  Graham  Wallas 
of  London  University,  a  member  of  the  present  Royal  Com- 
mission on  the  Civil  Service,  for  assistance  in  studying  at 
the  British  Museum;  to  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  William  Anson, 
Bart,  M.P.,  Warden  of  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford,  for- 
merly Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation; to  Mr.  Stanley  Leathes,  C.B.,  First  Civil  Service 
Commissioner  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  many  other  mem- 
bers of  the  English^  civil  service;  to  Mr.  Elliot  Goodwin, 

^  In  accordance  with  common  usage  the  term  "  civil  service  of  Great 
Britain  "  or  "  English  civil  service "  is  used  in  the  following  pages  in 
reference  to  the  employees  of  the  home  departments  of  the  central 
government  of  the  United  Kingdom,  excluding  local  civil  services 
under  county  councils,  etc.,  the  Metropolitan  police,  ecclesiastical  offi- 
^^iT-  cers,  law  officers,  and  the  army  and  navy. 


IQ  INTRODUCTION  [lO 

former  secretary  of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  As- 
sociation of  the  United  States,  and  to  Professors  Goodnow 
and  Powell  of  Columbia  University,  for  information,  sug- 
gestions and  criticism;  and,  finally,  to  Miss  Elsie  Simpson, 
for  invaluable  assistance  in  preparing  the  manuscript. 

Robert  Moses. 
New  York,  1913. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
The  English  Civil  Service  in  1853 

Patronage  and  political  corruption— Early  statutes  which  aimed  to 
isolate  the  civil  service  from  politics — The  division  into  political 
chiefs  representing  a  majority  in  Parliament,  and  the  army  of 
permanent  oi^cials  who  cannot  sit  in  Parliament — Disfranchise- 
ment   of    postal    and    revenue    employees — Legislation    against 
brokerage  of  offices— The  Reform  Bill  of  1832  does  not  touch  the 
civil  service — Why  there  was  no  system  of  rotation  and  spoils  in 
England — But  a  goodly  patronage  existed  in  the  natural  course 
of  deaths,  resignations,  dismissals,  and  the  creation  of  new  offices 
— Some  descriptions  of  clerks  and  offices  in  the  unreformed  civil 
service — Views  of  leading  officials — The  dishonest,  the  ignorant, 
the  idle,  the  dissipated,  and    the  imbecile  in  office — Burden  of 
work  on  superiors— Intelligent  and  capable  clerks  in  many  offices 
— Some  officials  claim  that  there  is  no  need  of  reform—  Sweeping 
generalities  false;  A  great  divergence  between  different  depart- 
ments— Anthony  Trollope  draws  a  racy  picture  of  two  different 
offices  in  The  Three  Clerks — Harry  Norman  of  the  Weights  and 
Measures    and    Charley    Tudor    of    the    "Infernal    Navigation" 
office — The    Post   Office    memoirs    of    Edmund    Yates — Bureau- 
cratic formalism  in  the  Colonial  Office;  "  Mr.  Mother  Country" 
/     — The  need  of  reform — The  need  of  a  renovation  of  each  office 
I     and  of  a  complete  reorganization  of  the  whole  civil  service  per- 
/      sonnel— The  investigations  of  Sir  Stafford   Northcote   and    Sir 
j       Charles  Trevelyan  into  various  establishments — Their  plan  for  a 
J       general    reorganization    of     the    civil     service     borrowed    from 

I       Macaulay  and  the  Indian  civil  service 19 

I  II]  II 


12 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  [12 


CHAPTER  II 

Macaulay  and  the  Indian  Civil  Service 

Unregulated  patronage  of  the  old  chartered  company— Lord  Welles- 
ley's  ambitious  scheme  for  a  training  college  at  Calcutta— The 
founding  of  Haileybury  College  in  England— Students  recruited 
from  old  Anglo-Indian  families— High  standards  and  success — 
The  East  India  C^ompany  reduced  to  a  patronage  bureau— 
Macaulay  speaks  for  open  competition — Macaulay 's  plan— Open 
competitive  examinations  in  the  liberal  studies  of  the  great  Eng- 
lish universities— Precautions  against  superficial  knowledge — 
Provision  for  a  probationary  term  in  Indian  studies— Fall  of 
Haileybury  — Attempts  to  improve  on  Macaulay's  scheme  — 
Macaulay's  wisdom  affirmed— Success  of  university  men  in  India 
—The  predominance  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge— The  question  of 
democracy 4° 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Beginning  of  Reform 

Careers  and  characters  of  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  and  Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan.  Their  faith  in  the  superiority  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge men — They  discuss  obstacles  in  the  way  of  attracting  the 
ablest  men  into  the  civil  service — They  follow  Macaulay's  plan 
for  open  competition  and  an  academic  examination  of  university 
standard— A  central  examining  board — Division  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice into  intellectual  and  mechanical  classes— It  would  stimulate 
competition  in  universities  and  standardize  the  education  of  the 
lower  classes— Large  periodical  competitions— Probation — Free 
transfer— Promotion  by  merit— Jowett  of  Balliol  outlines  the 
proper  examinations  for  the  upper  class  on  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
models — The  Jowett  "  Schools  "—His  examination  scheme  for 
the  lower  grade  of  clerkships— Opposition  to  Trevelyan-North- 
cote  plan— Politicians  unwilling  to  introduce  Indian  plan  in  Eng- 
land—Abuse of  authors — Trevelyan's  career  threatened— Macau- 
lay downcast— System  attacked  as  Utopian,  Chinese  and  Prussian 
—Conflicting  views — Letters  from  prominent  officials  and  others 
published  as  appendix  to  the  report— All  arguments  for  and  against 
reform  exhausted  here — The  opinions  of  Chadwick,  Sir  James 
Stephen,  Frcmantle,  Spottiswood,  Sir  George  Lewis  and  Ad- 
dington— House  of  Lords  contemptuous  of  the  plan — Gladstone's 
nominal  victory  in  the  Cabinet — The  Queen  has  misgivings- 
Reform  arrested— Civil  service  and  public  not  yet  prepared  for  so 
great  a  revolution 65 


J 2 J  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  1 3 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  IV 

Examination  Introduced 

The  Treasury  the  source  of  civil  service  reform— The  Order  in 
Council  of  1855  establishes  a  civil  service  commission— Duties  of 
the  commission— Standards  fixed  by  agreement  with  heads  of  the 
departments— Patronage  untouched— Open  competition  defeated 
in  Parliament— Commission  publishes  first  report;  majority  of 
failures  due  to  gross  ignorance  of  spelling  and  arithmetic — Rise 
in  standards— The  Colonial  Office  examination— Some  highly 
educated  men  attracted— House  of  Commons  votes  approval  of 
open  competition— Palmerston  agrees  to  limited  competition- 
Superannuation  Act  passed  in  1859— No  pension  without  certifi- 
cate of  civil  service  commission — Exceptions— Progress  made  by 
competition  1855-1860— Criticism  of  existing  civil  service  by  John 
Stuart  Mill— His  comprehension  of  the  relation  of  competitive 
examinations  to  efficiency,  political  honesty  and  popular  education 
— Trevelyan-Northcote  recommendations  still  mere  paper — But 
reform  had  made  great  strides— Competition  best  available  test- 
Question  now  stands  clear  of  real  and  imputed  extravagancies  of 
advocates  and  opponents.      °9 

CHAPTER  V 

John  Bright  and  Others  Investigate,  i860.     Open  Competition 
Introduced,  1870 

The  Select  Committee  of  i860— Some  officials  still  oppose  competi- 
tion—Logical weakness  of  the  reactionaries— Some  heads  of 
offices  converted— Conditions  in  various  departments— Open  com- 
petition already  indirectly  tried  through  the  Society  of  Arts- 
Aims  of  the  Society— Influence  on  popular  education— Success  of 
its  prize-men  in  civil  service  examinations  — The  Committee 
considers  two  schemes  of  limited  competition  —  Competition 
amongst  three  qualified  candidates  adopted— Trial  of  open  com- 
petition suggested— Scheme  of  preliminary  and  final  examina- 
tions—Results between  1865  and  1870— Majority  of  failures  in 
preliminary  examinations— Extension  of  limited  competition — 
Everyone  tired  of  patronage  system— Order  in  Council  of  1870 
introduces  open  competition— Outstanding  features  of  the  Order 
—Schedule  A  and  Schedule  B— class  I  and  class  II— Effect  of 
Clause  VII  of  the  Order  and  the  Superannuation  Act— Civil  ser- 
vice commissioners  bargain  with  department  heads  to  accept 
class  I— Differences  in  pay  and  prospects  amongst  second  division 


I^  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  [14 

PAGB 

clerks — Resulting  confusion,  discontent,  inefficiency  and  waste — 
Birth  of  the  Civilian  in  1869— Its  literary  merit — Influence- 
Class  sympathies— Scope  and  achievement 106 

CHAPTER  VI 

Further  Investigations— The  Reaction — The  Decade  of 
Scepticism 

The  Select  Committee  of  1873  on  standardization  and  economy — 
Significance — Scope  and  results  of  investigation — Work  and  pay 
more  uniformly  distributed  — Beginning  of  a  logical  two-division 
system — Striking  absence  of  corruption  and  dishonest  patronage 
— Civil  service  rejoices  at  fall  of  Gladstone  administration — Dis- 
raeli's fondness  for  royal  commissions  and  select  committees — 
The  Playfair  Commission  of  1875 — Personnel  —  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  outlines  inquiry — Open  competition  threatened — The 
three  Playfair  reports — Leading  principles  established  in  1870 
under  fire — High  officials  differ  about  open  competition,  first 
division  and  promotion — Sir  Charles  Trevelyan's  defence — Some 
scepticism  about  written  examinations  — Problems  before  the 
Commission  —  The  writer  question — Its  history — Problems  of 
equality  of  opportunity  in  the  second  division — Discontent  voiced 
by  representative  clerks — Playfair  report  gloomy — Doubts  about 
success  of  open  competition,  uniform  standards  and  examinations 
— Analysis  of  Playfair  recommendations— Criticism  of  recom- 
mendations— Standards  lowered  and  patronage  reintroduced — 
Questionable  effects  of  duty  pay  and  free  transfers — Writer  ques- 
tion unsettled — Trevelyan  and  Northcote  worried — Newspapers 
against  report — Order  in  Council  of  February  12,  1876  follows 
Playfair  scheme  for  rank  and  file — Mooted  question  of  Playfair 
first  division  left  undecided — Resulting  confusion 132 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Ridley  Investigation,  1888-1890 

Purpose  and  personnel  of  the  Commission — Reports  on  the  War 
and  Admiralty  Departments,  on  the  amalgamation  of  the  Cus- 
toms and  Excise  Departments,  and  on  the  Foreign  Office — Re- 
view of  Playfair  scheme  in  the  second  report,  and  recommenda- 
tions— Principle  of  division  of  labor  not  preserved— Need  of  a 
higher  division  with  liberal  culture  —  Normal  establishments 
should  be  fixed— Suggestion  of  a  permanent  standardizing  com- 
mittee—Promotion   by    seniority    condemned — Second    division 


jc]  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  1 5 


PAGH 


changes  recommended  —  Confusion  caused  by  words  "upper 
division  "  and  "  higher  division  "—First  division  changes  recom- 
mended— Open  competition  for  first  division  endorsed— Original 
Jowett  examination  plan  urged— Duty  pay  condemned — Non- 
competitive positions  requiring  technical  knowledge  to  be  sched- 
uled—The writer  question  and  the  employment  of  boy  clerks — 
Employment  of  women— Pensions  and  deferred  pay— Compulsory 
retirement— Treasury  Minutes  of  1889  and  Orders  in  Council  of 
February  i,  March  21,  and  August  15,  1890,  approve  Ridley 
recommendations— Digest  of  the  Treasury  Minute — Provision  for 
promotion  of  second  division  clerks  to  first  division  for  excep- 
tional merit— Old  Playfair  arrangements  temporarily  continued — 
Compulsory  retirement  of  incompetents  unfeasible— Adoption  of 
Minute  by  Orders  in  Council— Annual  standardizing  committee 
formed      ^59 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Civil  Service  To-Day— The  Present  Royal  Commission— The 
Question  of  Intellectual  Aristocracy 

Purpose  and  personnel  of  the  Commission—Scientific  and  sympa- 
thetic inquiry — Influence  of  the  new  sociology  and  democracy — 
Developments  and  changes  in  the  civil  service  since  the  Ridley 
report— First  division  examinations,  numbers,  extension— Crea- 
tion of  the  intermediate  division,  its  extension — The  Hobhouse 
report  on  the  amalgamation  of  the  Customs  and  Excise  Depart- 
ments—Employment of  women  and  girls  and  objections  to  ex- 
tension —  Blind-alley  employment  of  boy  clerks;  educational 
classes— The  writer  class— Proportion  of  positions  filled  by  open 
competition,  limited  competition  and  nomination— New  methods 
of  appointment  to  the  Labor  Exchanges  and  to  the  National 
Health  Insurance  Commission — Methods  of  promotion— The  pres- 
ent backdoors  into  the  civil  service;  the  case  of  Sir  Matthew 
Nathan— Influence  and  patronage;  the  "private  secretary  scan- 
dal "—Expansion  of  the  Post  Office— Rights  and  powers  of  civil 
servants  as  against  the  state— Strikes  and  civil  unionism— Polit- 
ical pressure— The  postal  and  telegraph  employees  in  France  and 
in  England— Threat  of  English  postal  and  telegraph  employees 
to  strike— Future  of  these  agitations— The  question  of  division  of 
the  clerical  service  into  distinct  classes  on  the  basis  of  superior 
education— Existing  opportunities  for  second  division  clerks- 
Memorial  presented  to  the  Commission  by  these  clerks— Opposi- 
tion to  patronage   and  barriers— Claim  of  second  division  that 


l6  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  [l6 

PAGE 

they  are  sufficiently  educated  to  fill  any  post  in  the  civil  service 
— Their  plan  for  a  clerical  reorganization — Abolition  of  the  first 
division— Assistant  clerks'  memorial — They  are  underpaid — Claim 
that  they  are  superior  to  their  work — Their  scheme  of  reorganiza- 
tion—  Amalgamation  with  the  second  division  —  Opinions  of 
superior  officials  on  the  necessity  of  class  distinctions  and  of  a 
first  division — Viscount  Haldane  believes  intelligence,  cultivated 
tastes,  outlook  on  life  and  university  associations  of  the  first  di- 
vision, indispensable — Not  a  blind  admirer  of  the  old  universities 
— Wants  new  studies  recognized — Wants  graduate  students — 
Present  inequalities  only  to  be  remedied  by  complete  develop- 
ment of  popular  education — Opinions  of  Sir  John  Anderson  and 
of  other  high  officials — The  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  this 
evidence — The  probable  conclusions  of  the  Royal  Commission 
and  their  ultimate  adoption — The  author's  conclusion  on  the 
question  of  democracy  and  education  in  the  civil  service    .       .        182 

CHAPTER  IX 
English  Experience  and  the  United  States 

American  reform  movement  came  from  outside  the  administration 
—Slow  and  painful  advance — Course  of  English  reform  smooth 
and  steady— Constant  retrogressions  in  the  United  States — Hos- 
tility of  Congress  and  the  irresistible  pressure  of  spoilsmen — 
Conditions  in  the  services  of  England  and  the  United  States  at 
the  beginning  of  reform  very  similar — Patronage,  nepotism  and 
corruption  attract  the  same  rabble  into  Washington  and  London 
departments — This  parallel  impressed  Mr.  Eaton — Success  of  re- 
form in  England  led  to  introduction  of  English  ideas  in  the 
United  States — But  here  analogy  between  two  countries  stops — 
English  civil  service  has  reached  the  stage  of  scientific  develop- 
ment-American reformers  still  busy  preventing  retrogressions — 
The  appointing  power  of  the  President  under  the  United  States 
Constitution — The  need  of  abolishing  Senatorial  "  courtesy"  and 
classifying  higher  non-political  positions — Difficulties  in  extend- 
ing classified  service— More  competition  in  the  United  States 
than  in  England,  but  exemptions  less  logical — No  real  competi 
tion  in  the  United  States — The  defects  of  the  civil  service  law — 
Apportionment — Three  eligibles  presented  for  each  vacancy — 
Low  standards  of  examination — Preference  of  disabled  veterans — 
Existence  of  a  waiting  list — Bidding  for  salaries — Inadequate 
salaries— Success  in  attracting  iiighly  educated  men  to  technical 
positions,  but  no  general  appeal   to  university  men — University 


17]  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  1 7 

PACK 

men  driven  out  of  service  by  low  pay  and  poor  prospects — Experi- 
ence of  the  United  States  Patent  Office — Same  patronage  and 
exemption  problems  in  cities  and  states  as  in  federal  government 
— Higher  educational  standards  essential— Creation  of  new  de- 
partments— Increasing  complexities  of  government— Experts  and 
men  of  sound  university  education  needed — New  experiments  in 
recruitment  indicated — Prolonged  technical  training  as  against 
academic  education — The  bureaus  of  municipal  research — Cram- 
ming and  the  overemphasis  of  practical  knowledge — Beginning 
of  a  class  I  system  in  the  United  States — Government  lags  behind 
the  open  professions — The  bugaboo  of  bureaucracy — The  battle 
against  false  democracy — The  age  of  experiment — Titles,  orders 
and  exaggerated  respect  in  foreign  countries  as  attractions  to  the 
civil  service — The  need  of  paying  adequate  salaries  in  the  United 
States — Need  of  periodical  revision  of  civil  service  regulations — 
Political  agitation  of  office  holders — President  Wilson  and  civil 
service  reform — His  task  and  opportunity 246 

Appendix  A 

The  Order  in  Council  of  January  10,  1910,  which  governs  admission 
to  the  English  civil  service 271 

Appendix  B 

Table  of  cases  dealt  with  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  1910- 
1911 289 

Appendix  C 

Class  I  clerkships,  Indian  civil  service  and  eastern  cadetships — 
Salary  of  class  I  clerks — Results  of  examinations — Subjects  and 
marks,  and  specimens  of  papers  set  in  1910 290 

Appendix  D 

Intermediate  division — Salary — Results  of  the  examination  of  1910 
— Subjects  and  marks,  and  specimens  of  papers  set  in  191 1   .    .    .    306 

Appendix  E 

Second  division  clerkships — Salary — Results  of  the  examinations  of 
1910— Subjects  and  marks,  and  specimens  of  papers  set  in  191 1   .    312 


l8  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  [i8 


Appendix  F 

Specimens  of  examinations  for  boy  clerkships  and  girl  clerkships 
in  the  Post  Office 318 

Appendix  G 

Specimens  of   first   grade  general   clerical    examinations   for   the 
United  States  civil  service 322 


CHAPTER  I 
The  English  Civil  Service  in  1853 

"  When  you  made  your  request  to  me,  you  should  have  con- 
sidered, Madam,  what  you  were  asking.  You  ask  me  to  solicit 
a  great  man,  to  whom  I  never  spoke,  for  a  young  person  whom 
I  had  never  seen,  upon  a  supposition  which  I  had  no  means 
of  knowing  to  be  true." — Dr.  Johnson,  to  a  lady  who  solicited 
him  to  obtain  patronage  for  her  son. 


The  history  of  the  modern  English  civil  service,  with 
its  accepted  implications  of  open  examinations,  merit  as 
the  basis  of  appointment  and  promotion,  permanent  tenure, 
and  complete  aloofness  from  all  political  bias  and  sub- 
servience, begins  in  1853.  That  year  is  the  Independence 
Year  of  the  English  civil  service,  and  its  Declaration  is 
the  famous  Report  of  1853  o^  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  and 
Sir  Charles  Trevelyan.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  opening 
chapter  to  review  the  laws  and  to  describe  briefly  the  con- 
dition of  the  civil  service  in  the  period  between  the  Re- 
form Act  of  1832  and  the  Report  of  1853.'''^  From  this 
report  itself  and  from  the  immense  amount  of  correspond- 
ence which  it  invited  and  the  discussion  which  it  aroused, 
we  may  get  a  fairly  accurate  conception  of  the  status  of 
the  civil  service  in  the  preceding  decades. 

The  right  of  nomination  to  civil  service  posts,  once 
the  most  powerful  prerogative  of  the  crown,  had  passed 
gradually,  with  the  development  of  the  cabinet  system  of 
government  under  the  Hanoverians,  into  the  hands  of  the 
ministry,  and  consequently  into  the  hands  of  the  majority 
in  Parliament.  Thus  drawn  into  the  arena  of  party  poli- 
19]  19 


20  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [20 

tics,  the  civil  service,  with  its  enormous  patronage,  gave 
a  powerful  stimulus  to  the  political  corruption  which,  be- 
ginning with  the  cabinet  and  spreading  downward  through 
the  House  of  Commons  to  the  individual  voter,  poisoned 
the  whole  political  life  of  the  nation.  The  harm  which 
such  a  partisan  system  did  to  the  civil  service  itself  was  in- 
significant compared  to  the  demoralization  of  the  House  of 
Commons  and  the  electorate : 

Let  anyone  who  has  had  experience,  reflect  on  the  opera- 
tion of  patronage  on  Electors,  Parliament  and  the  Govern- 
ment. Over  each  it  exercises  an  evil  influence.  In  the 
Elections  it  interferes  with  the  honest  exercise  of  the  fran- 
chise ;  in  Parliament  it  encourages  subservience  to  the  admin- 
istration ;  it  impedes  the  free  action  of  a  Government  desirous 
of  pursuing  an  honest  and  economical  course,  and  it  occasions 
the  employment  of  persons  without  regard  to  their  peculiar 
fitness.  It  is  a  more  pernicious  system  than  the  mere  giving 
of  money  to  Electors  or  members  of  Parliament  to  secure  their 
votes.     It  is  bribery  in  its  worst  form.^ 

Parliament  and  the  civil  service  itself  had  been  pro- 
tected from  the  worst  excesses  of  political  corruption  by 
a  series  of  statutes  widely  separated  in  point  of  time,  yet 
all  aimed  at  withdrawing  the  civil  service  from  the  political 
arena.  After  the  Revolution  the  danger  that  the  king 
would  purchase  the  support  of  Parliament  by  direct  gifts 
of  civil  offices  and  pensions  was  clearly  seen.  An  Act 
of  1694,  for  a  new  revenue  board  for  stamp  duties,  had 
provided  that  its  members  should  not  have  seats  in  Par- 
liament, and  this,  says  Hallam,  is  the  first  exclusion  from 
membership  of  that  body  on  account  of  employment.^     A 

*  Evidence  submitted  to  the  Commission  on  Civil  Service.  Parlia- 
mentary Reports,  1854-S,  vol.  xx,  p.  302;  hereinafter  referred  to  as 
Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5. 

2  Eaton,  Civil  Service  in  Great  Britain  (New  York,  1880),  p.  72. 


21  ]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  2 1 

law  of   1699  extended  the  exclusion  to  various  other  ex- 
cise offices. 

Then  came  the  sweeping  provision  of  the  Act  of  Settle- 
ment. Besides  its  famous  clause  insuring  tenure  of  good 
behaviour  to  judges,  the  Act  provided  that  "  no  person 
who  has  an  office  or  place  of  profit  under  the  king,  or 
receives  a  pension  from  the  Crown  shall  be  capable  of 
serving  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons."  ^ 

But  this  measure  was  obviously  too  sweeping  for  the 
cautious  reformers  of  the  day,  and  it  had  the  awkward  ef- 
fect of  excluding  the  great  secretaries  of  state  from  par- 
liamentary control  and  responsibility.  The  members  of 
Parliament  of  the  day  freed  themselves  ^  from  the  awk- 
ward effects  of  the  new  law  and  saddled  it  on  their  suc- 
cessors by  the  simple  device  of  applying  the  exclusion  from 
Parliament  only  to  a  few  existing  offices  and  to  all  new 
offices  created  after  October  25,  1705.^  This  was  a  fair 
beginning  of  a  great  reform.  Subsequently  when  new 
offices  of  importance  were  created  special  statutes  had  to 
be  passed  to  give  holders  the  right  to  sit  in  Parliament, 
and  as  regards  the  mass  of  old  officials  not  excluded  by 
the  new  law,  these  were  excluded  by  the  thousands  as  op- 
portunities arose.*  And  we  have  the  beginning  of  the  salu- 
tary principle  that  the  public  officers  consist  of  a  small 
number  of  temporary  political  chiefs  who  sit  in  Parliament 
and  represent  the  majority,  and  the  army  of  permanent  offi- 
cials who  cannot  sit  in  Parliament.^ 

M2  &  13  William  III,  c.  2. 

24  Anne,  c.  8.  Cf.  W.  R.  Anson,  Latv  and  Custom  of  the  Constitu- 
tion (Oxford,  1893),  pt.  i,  p.  75. 

^6  Anne,  c.  7,  sec.  24. 

*  For  a  complete  list  of  official  disqualifications  created  by  statute, 
see  Anson,  op.  cit.,  p.  85  et  seq. 

5  "  The  distinction  between  the  offices  which  are  and  those  which  are 


22  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [22 

Such  expedients  as  these,  however,  were  powerless  to 
prevent  the  mass  of  subordinate  servants  from  being  forced 
to  play  a  partisan  role  at  elections  in  the  interest  of  those 
members  and  other  politicians  to  whom  they  owed  their 
appointments.  By  an  Act  of  Anne,^  postal  servants  were 
forbidden  on  pain  of  fine  and  dismissal  to  take  any  part 
in  elections,  but  the  majority  of  lower  officials  still  re- 
tained the  franchise.  The  question  became  more  acute 
and,  all  protests  and  warnings  having  failed,  the  dis- 
franchisement of  all  these  minor  officers  was  resorted  to  as 
a  desperate  remedy.  Burke's  famous  Act  of  1782  ^  pro- 
vided that  "  no  commissioner,  collector,  supervisor,  ganger 
or  other  officer  or  person,  whatsoever,  concerned  in  the 
charging,  collecting,  levying  or  managing  the  duties  of  the 
excise  ...  or  concerned  in  the  charging,  collecting,  levy- 
ing, or  managing  the  customs  or  any  of  the  duties  on 
stamped  parchment  and  paper  ...  or  duties  on  salt  .  .  . 
windows  or  houses,  nor  any  postmaster,  postmaster  general, 
nor  any  person  employed  under  him  .  .  .  shall  vote  for 
members  of  parliament."  This  restriction  was  maintained 
until  the  modern  reformed  civil  service  was  well  estab- 
lished in  1868,^  and  we  shall  see  that  since  then  the  pres- 

not  compatible  witli  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  is  made  complete 
by  the  regulations  of  the  service  itself.  These  cannot  render  void  an 
election  to  the  House  virhich  is  not  invalid  by  statute.  They  cannot 
make  the  holding  of  office  a  disqualification  for  Parliament,  but  they 
can  make  a  seat  in  Parliament  a  reason  for  the  loss  of  office.  They 
can  and  do  provide  that  if  any  civil  servant  intends  to  be  a  candidate 
he  must  resign  his  office  when  he  first  issues  his  address  to  the  elec- 
tors." A.  Lawrence  Lowell,  Government  of  England  (New  York, 
1912),  vol.  i,  p.   146. 

^  9  Anne,  c.  10. 

*  22  George  HI,  c.  41.  This  was  opposed  by  Lord  Mansfield,  with 
that  jealous  intolerance  of  reform  for  which  the  Bench  had  long  been 
famous,  on  the  ground  that  the  bill  "  tended  to  a  dangerous  depression 
of  the  regal  authority ". 

8  31  &  32  Victoria,  c.  7Z,  and  2,7  &  38  Victoria,  c.  22. 


23]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  185S  23 

sure  which  dock  workers,  revenue  and  postal  employees, 
and  other  dissatisfied  civilians  have  brought  to  bear  on 
Parliament  through  their  representatives,  has  again  aroused 
demands  for  disfranchisement.^  By  an  Act  of  1809.^  far 
more  difficult  to  enforce,  the  brokerage  of  offices,  and  all 
promises  of  and  consent  to  appointments  for  anything  of 
value,  and  all  negotiations  relating  to  vacancies,  exchanges, 
nominations,  removals,  and  transfers,  were  made  misde- 
meanors.^ This  last  restriction,  at  any  rate,  was  not 
very  effective,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  law  was 
enforced  in  any  conspicuous  case.  It  is  true  that,  once  in 
the  service,  the  great  majority  of  lower  officers  could  play 
no  partisan  role  in  parliamentary  elections  and  bring  no 
partisan  pressure  to  bear  on  members  of  Parliament,  but 
their  original  appointment  was  strictly  partisan,  and  no 
amount  of  legislation  against  brokerage  of  office  could 
prevent  this. 

The  Reform  Bill  of  1832  which  Carlyle  had  so  valiantly 
hailed  as  the  beginning  of  a  golden  age  in  English  politics 
left  patronage  and  the  civil  service  undisturbed.  It  was 
succeeded  by  a  period  of  controversy  as  bitter  as  it  was 
barren  of  results;  and  in  1840,  the  Whigs,  who  had  ushered 
in  the  auspicious  era  of  reform,  had  sunk  into  little  more 
than  a  patronage  bureau.  Carlyle,  in  his  wrath  and  dis- 
appointment, could  see  in  Parliament  nothing  more  than 
"  hungry  Greek  throttling  down  hungry  Greek  on  the  floor 
of  St.  Stephen  until  the  loser  cried,  '  Hold !  the  place  is 
thine  '."  And  in  1845,  Macaulay,  as  nearly  non-partisan 
as  a  staunch  Whig  could  be,  was  asking :  "Are  we  to  go  on 
as  Lord  Melbourne's  Ministry  did— unable  to  carry  our  own 

1  Lowell,  op.  cit.,  vol.  i,  pp.  149,  i5o.     Cf.  also  infra,  pp.  202-203  et  seq. 
*  49  George  III,  c.  118. 

»  Cf.  also  49  George  III,  118;  7  &  8  George  IV,  37;  all  consolidated 
by  17  &  18  Victoria,  102. 


24  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [24 

bills,  and  content  with  holding  the  executive  functions,  and 
distributing  the  loaves  and  fishes?  "  ^ 

The  English  civil  service  of  this  period  was,  at  any 
rate,  singularly  free  from  one  extreme  form  of  political 
control  which  had  worked  havoc  in  the  United  States.  No 
system  of  rotation  and  "  spoils  "  plunged  the  service  into 
periodical  electioneering  fights  for  its  very  existence,  and 
made  an  orderly  routine  and  quiet  uninterrupted  labor  im- 
possible. On  the  other  hand  the  partisan,  or  at  any  rate 
political  appointee,  who  was  utterly  inefficient  or  hopelessly 
lazy,  enjoyed  the  protection  of  a  permanent  tenure,  which 
only  death  or  voluntary  resignation  could  interrupt. 

Why  was  there  no  system  of  rotation  in  the  English  civil 
service?  The  original  appointments  were  partisan,  and 
political  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  promotions.  In 
America  these  conditions  resulted  in  a  complete  upheaval 
of  the  whole  service  at  each  election  involving  a  change  of 
party,  the  discharge  of  all  employees  of  the  supplanted 
political  faith,  and  the  introduction  of  a  new  and  inex- 
perienced horde  of  orthodox  successors.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  traditions  of  the  English  constitution  and  the  ad- 
vanced political  morality'  of  the  English  (as  compared 
with  the  Americans  of  the  same  period)  effectually  pre- 
cluded such  a  development.  There  is  enough  evidence  in 
the  succeeding  pages  to  prove  that  the  political  morality 
of  the  time  was  not  very  high;  and  we  need  not  speculate 
about  the  traditions  of  an  unwritten  constitution  to  find  an 
explanation  of  this  problem.     President  Lowell  shrewdly 

1  Sir  G.  O.  Trevelyan,  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Macaulay  (New 
York,  1909),  p.  455- 

2  The  presence  of  ardent  and  upright  reformers  in  the  cabinet  did 
not  preclude  rotation  in  England.  Those  who  think  that  men  like 
Gladstone  and  Sidney  Herbert  would  not  have  tolerated  rotation, 
should  remember  that  Lincoln  and  Charles  Sumner  did  not  tolerate  it 
in  the  United  States.     It  went  on  just  the  same. 


25]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  25 

suggests  that  a  respect  for  vested  rights  prevented  rotation 
in  office  in  England.  But  whence  came  this  respect  ?  Presi- 
dent Lowell  seems  to  refer  it  to  some  rooted  and  inex- 
plicable political  category  of  the  English  mind  or  to  some 
human  sympathy  peculiar  to  the  English  people.  It  is 
much  more  probable  that  this  respect  for  vested  rights 
arose  through  the  most  elementary  political  expediency. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  not  in  England,  as  in  many 
of  the  United  States,  a  reasoned  principle  of  rotation.  In 
the  United  States  the  fear  of  the  entrenched  and  arbitrary 
authority  of  permanent  office  holders,  inherited  from 
colonial  days,  had  led  a  number  of  states  to  make  express 
provision  for  short  official  terms  and  rotation.^  In  spite 
of  the  opposition  of  the  first  two  presidents,  this  prin- 
ciple, like  so  many  other  state  principles,  was  passed 
on  to  the  national  government.  Without  such  a  philoso- 
phical background,  it  is  doubtful  whether  rotation  in 
office  would  have  become  so  firmly  entrenched  at  Wash- 
ington. Perhaps  the  absence  of  such  a  philosophical  jus- 
tification was  a  safeguard  against  rotation  in  England; 
but  the  real  safeguard  is  nearer  at  hand.  The  fact  is  that 
under  the  cabinet  form  of  government,  rotation  in  office 
would  have  resulted  in  complete  chaos  in  Parliament  and 
in  the  civil  service,  and  could  not  conceivably  have  bene- 
fited anyone  concerned.  Where,  in  the  United  States  in 
1854,  rotation  in  office  hindered  sound  and  stable  govern- 
ment, in  England  it  would  have  stopped  government  alto- 
gether. We  have  only  to  remember  that  the  party  in  power 
in  England  must  always  be  ready  to  resign  on  an  adverse 
vote  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  appreciate  what  rota- 
tion would  have  meant.  With  a  tenure  of  at  least  four 
years,  and  probably  at  least  four  more,  the  United  States 

'  Cf.  Woodrow  Wilson,  The  State  (Boston,  1895),  p.  498. 


26  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [26 

could  survive  rotation  though  the  troubles  of  appointment 
might  kill  the  president;  but  no  English  cabinet  could 
maintain  itself  in  office  a  single  year  supported  at  White- 
hall by  an  untrained  rabble  without  certain  tenure  and 
opposed  in  Parliament  at  every  turn  by  an  embittered  and 
rapacious  minority.  Who  would  form  a  cabinet  under 
such  circumstances?  Who  would  care  to  enter  the  civil 
service  with  so  hazardous  a  tenure?  Who  would  want 
to  be  a  government  clerk  for  six  months,  or  even  an  under- 
secretary? Obviously  the  simplest  solution  of  the  whole 
patronage  question  in  Great  Britain  was  a  compromise — 
permanent  tenure  on  reasonably  good  behavior  guaranteed 
to  everyone  in  the  service  no  matter  whether  the  Govern- 
ment or  the  Opposition  made  the  original  appointment. 

England  escaped  the  principle  of  rotation,  but  the  party 
in  power  still  had  a  goodly  patronage  existing  in  the  na- 
tural course  of  deaths,  resignations,  dismissals  and  the 
creation  of  new  offices.  Of  the  character  of  nominees  at 
this  time  we  have  a  wealth  of  contemporary  evidence. 
Lord  Morley  quotes  from  a  memorandum  of  an  early  re- 
former, found  amongst  Gladstone's  papers. 

"  The  old  established  political  families  habitually  batten  on  the 
public  patronage — their  sons  legitimate  and  illegitimate,  their 
relatives  and  dependents  of  every  degree,  are  provided  for  by 
the  score.  Besides  the  adventuring  disreputable  class  of  mem- 
bers of  parliament,  who  make  God  knows  what  use  of  the 
patronage,  a  large  number  of  borough  members  are  mainly 
dependent  upon  it  for  their  seats.  What,  for  instance,  are  the 
members  to  do  who  have  been  sent  down  by  the  patronage 
secretary  to  contest  boroughs  in  the  interest  of  the  government, 
and  who  are  pledged  twenty  deep  to  their  constituents.  "  ^ 

Mr.    Eowe,   Chancellor  of   the   Exchequer  under   Glad- 

1  Morley,  lAjc  of  Gladstone  (London,  igaS),  vol.  i,  p.  379. 


27]  THE  ENGLISH  CH'IL  SERVICE  IN  1853  27 

stone,  in  his  examination  before  a  committee  on  civil 
service/  made  the  sweeping  statement  that  "  under  the 
former  system  there  never  was  such  a  thing  known  as  a 
man  being  appointed  because  he  was  supposed  to  be  fit 
for  the  place."  ^  But  then,  we  must  remember  that  Lowe's 
conception  of  his  own  reforms  in  the  civil  service  gave 
him  a  poor  idea  of  conditions  preceding  them. 

Mr.  Chadwick,  head  of  the  Poor  Law  Board,  in  a  re- 
markable letter  contributed  on  the  1853  report,  writes  of 
the  personnel  of  the  civil  service  before  that  time : 

[The  larger  proportion  of  appointments  by  patronage  has 
been  given  not  only  to  persons  of  lower  condition,  but  to  per- 
sons of  education  and  qualifications  greatly  below  the  average 
of  their  class.  .  .  .  Out  of  80  clerks  supplied  by  the  Patronage 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  one  department,  not  more  than 
twelve  were  worth  their  salt.]  .  .  A  faithful  portrait  of  the  par- 
ties who  have  procured  appointment  in  the  public  offices  might 

'^Parliamentary  Papers,  1873,  vii. 

*  Lowe  was  an  interesting  type  of  unsuccessful  reformer.  He  was 
an  Albino  and  was  known  to  the  civil  service  as  the  Whitehead  Tor- 
pedo. His  physical  peculiarity  had  brought  about  the  not  unusual 
result  of  making  him  retiring,  terribly  sensitive,  pedantic  and  exact- 
ing. Toward  his  subordinates  in  the  Treasury  and  in  the  Home 
Office,  he  was  intolerant  of  human  failings,  and  in  his  official  de- 
mands ruthless  and  inhuman.  He  was  a  sincere  reformer,  but  his  lack 
of  sympathy  prevented  an  appreciation  of  his  services  and  caused 
him  to  make  at  least  one  gigantic  blunder.  Within  the  service  he  was 
exceedingly  unpopular.  When  he  conceded  anything  to  the  agitations, 
often  quite  justified,  of  the  lower  divisions  of  the  civil  service  for 
increased  pay  or  better  conditions  of  time  or  promotion,  it  was  with  a 
cold,  analytical  and  reluctant  justification  which  made  the  beneficiaries 
feel  that  they  had  wrung  a  small  concession  from  a  tyrant.  Lowe 
became  so  unpopular  and  so  dangerous  as  a  political  ally,  that  Glad- 
stone had  to  resort  to  kicking  him  up  into  the  House  of  Lords  as  Vis- 
count Sherbrooke.  Cf.  James  Bryce,  Studies  in  Contemporary  Biog- 
raphy; Hogan,  J.  F..  Robert  Lowe.  Viscount  Sherbrooke;  The  Civilian, 
I 869- I 872. 


28  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [28 

well  be  considered  as  a  scandalous  misrepresentation.  Many 
instances  could  be  given  of  young  men,  the  sons  of  respectable 
parents,  who  were  found  unable  to  read  or  write.  Two 
brothers,  one  almost  imbecile,  the  other  much  below  the  aver- 
age of  intelligence,  long  retained  appointments,  though  never 
equal  to  higher  work  than  the  lowest  description  of  copying. 
Aaiother  young  man  was  found  unable  to  number  the  pages 
of  a  volume  of  official  papers  beyond  10.  The  head  of  the 
department  knows  from  old  experience  that  a  representation 
of  this  fact  to  higher  quarters  would  merely  draw  down  ill-will 
on  himself;  the  first  official  duty  with  which  the  young  man 
is  charged  is,  therefore,  to  take  a  month's  leave  of  absence 
that  he  may  endeavor  to  learn  to  write.  Beside  the  imbecile 
who  is  below  work  and  the  coxcomb  who  is  above  it,  there 
are  other  kinds  of  unprofitable  officers,  including  a  large  class 
who  have  ability  enough  if  they  would  apply  it.  The  Public 
Offices  have  been  a  resource  for  many  an  idle,  dissipated 
youth  with  whom  other  occupations  have  been  tried  in  vain. 
Such  a  person  can  be  made  of  little  use  whatever  his  abilities, 
because  he  cannot  be  trusted.  No  one  can  tell  to-day  where 
he  will  be  to-morrow.  The  ice  is  in  fine  condition  and  he 
skates  for  a  couple  of  days ;  a  review  tempts  him ;  a  water 
party  cannot  be  resisted ;  and  after  dancing  all  night  he  is  not 
seen  at  the  office  in  the  morning.  In  fact,  causes  of  absence  are 
endless.  Incessant  altercations  take  place  with  his  superiors, 
with  little  effect,  for  he  knows  they  cannot  degrade  or  dismiss 
him,  as  a  merchant  or  a  banker  would  do,  and  he  is  proof 
against  fines  and  minor  punishments.  At  last  he  is  given  up 
as  utterly  incorrigible.  Instances  also  occur  of  good  abilities 
and  dispositions  rendered  powerless  by  unconquerable  indo- 
lence." ^ 

Major  Graham.  Register  General  from  1836  to  1854. 
has  a  similar  grievance  against  a  system  which  crippled 
his  department : 

'  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  P-  181. 


29]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  29 

One  person  had  been  an  insolvent  debtor.  Another  man  I  sent 
with  some  money  to  the  Bank  of  England,  but  he  did  not  pay  it 
in,  and  tried  to  impute  the  blame  to  one  of  the  clerks  in  the  Bank 
of  England.  .  .  .  there  was  one  man  whom  I  was  forced  to  keep 
in  a  room  by  himself,  as  he  was  in  such  a  state  of  health  that 
he  could  not  associate  with  the  other  clerks.  .  .  .  There  was  an- 
other clerk  of  whom  complaints  were  made  .  .  .  that  he  was  so 
offensive  that  the  other  clerks  could  not  be  with  him.  I  asked 
that  person  how  he  got  his  appointment.  He  was  a  very  old 
man;  and  he  told  me  he  had  been  a  student  in  law  in  early 
life,  and  he  then  happened  to  be  intimate  with  a  legal  friend 
who  attained  a  very  high  position  in  this  country  afterwards, 
and,  upon  getting  into  difficulties,  without  having  seen  or  heard 
anything  of  that  gentleman  for  30  years,  he  went  to  him, 
and  told  him  he  had  not  a  shilling.  This  high  legal  gentleman 
sent  his  name  to  the  Treasury,  and  he  was  immediately  ap- 
pointed to  my  office.  The  great  legal  gentleman  only  saw  his 
poverty,  and  he  procured  him  the  appointment.  .  .  .  There 
was  a  Deputy  Register-General ;  he  was  not  in  attendance ; 
he  was  ill ;  and  I  got  a  letter  from  him,  asking  if  he  might  be 
allowed  to  remain  absent,  which  I  consented  to,  because  I 
really  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  him.  ...  At  the  end  of  15 
months  (I  did  not  want  to  be  in  a  hurry)  I  reported  to  the 
Lords  of  the  Treasury  that  the  appointment  was  unnecessary, 
and  their  Lordships  removed  him,  and  did  away  with  the  office.^ 

Sir  James  Stephen,  Permanent  Under  Secretary  of  State 
for  the  Colonies  and  later  professor  of  modem  history 
at  Cambridge,  a  civil  servant  of  whose  character  as  an  ad- 
ministrator we  shall  have  something  more  to  say  later, 
after  thirty  years'  experience  of  civil  servants  divided  them 
into  three  classes.'  The  first  class  was  difficult  to  describe 
without  exaggeration.     Its  members  were  characterized  by 

1  Report  on  Civil  Service,  Parliamentary  Papers,  i860,  vol.  ix,  pp. 
176-177. 

*  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  p.  72. 


30  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [30 

large  capacity  of  mind,  literary  powers,  scholarship,  energy, 
and  experience  of  public  affairs.  These,  of  course,  were 
appointed  from  outside  the  service  for  merit  after  being 
well  educated.  The  second  class  consisted  of  the  diligent 
and  faithful  average  servants,  appointed  through  patronage, 
but  after  considerable  education.  The  third  class — and 
this  consisted  of  the  great  majority  of  members  of  the 
Colonial  Department  in  Stephen's  time — possessed  a  low, 
and  some  of  them  an  incredibly  low,  degree  of  intelli- 
gence and  industry.  They  had  enjoyed  only  a  very  in- 
complete school  education,  and  had  never  improved  them- 
selves afterward.  Stephen  himself  confessed  that  he  was 
guilty  of  nepotism  in  appointing  a  son  and  a  nephew  to 
clerkships  in  his  department,  but  he  pleaded  in  his  behalf 
that  he  dismissed  his  son  after  three  months  on  finding 
him  unqualified!  The  number  of  such  clerks  was  con- 
stantly increased.  As  a  result  the  burden  of  work  on  the 
higher  officials  became  at  times  almost  intolerable.  Serious 
mistakes  and  oversights  v.ere  inevitable. 

Another  high  official  ^  commented  caustically  on  the  ine- 
qualities of  the  service:  One  person  did  one-third  of  his 
work,  another  more  than  his  own  share ;  one  part  of  an  office 
was  busy,  another  idle;  every  functionary  had  his  function 
after  the  plan  of  the  Hindoo  household,  a  bookkeeper  for 
each  book,  etc.  Time  was  generally  unaccounted  for — on 
a  question  of  an  outlay  of  £40  an  unnecessary  delay  of 
three  weeks,  eventually  caused  the  public  a  total  loss  of 
£4,000  a  week.  An  enormous  amount  of  time  was  wasted 
by  disconnected  offices  and  departments,  duplication  of  ma- 
chinery and  every  other  conceivable  lack  of  coordination. 
It  was  said  that  there  were  few  instances  where  the  actual 
cost  of  business  was  considered.     Hundreds  of  pages  of 

'  Civil  Service  Papers.  1854-5,  p.  194.     Letter,  Chadwick. 


21  ]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  ^I 

further  evidence  might  be  adduced  to  elaborate  the  de- 
ficiencies of  the  civil  service  at  the  time  of  the  first  offi- 
cial report  of  1853. 

But,  lest  anyone  should  be  deceived  by  the  apparent  sim- 
plicity of  the  moral  question  at  issue,  into  the  misappre- 
hension that  there  could  be  only  one  right-minded  opinion 
about  the  old.  unreformed  civil  service,  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  men  of  undoubted  integrity,  insight,  and  cour- 
age, the  leading  officials  of  great  offices,  stubbornly  insisted 
that  the  civil  service  was  in  no  great  need  of  reform  and 
defended  its  existing  personnel  with  vigor  and  effect. 
Such  a  man  was  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Thomas  Fremantle. 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Customs,  who  categorically 
denied  the  accuracy  of  the  above  evidence  and  stated 
that  in  his  experience  as  regards  the  faithfulness,  dili- 
gence and  competency  of  clerks  and  higher  officers,  the 
smooth  dispatch  of  business  and  the  general  efficiency  of 
departments,  the  civil  service  did  not  suffer  by  comparison 
with  the  army,  the  navy,  or  with  any  public  companies  or 
large  establishments  under  the  management  of  private 
individuals.'  A  former  under  secretary  in  the  Foreign 
Office  wrote  in  the  same  strain — though  it  is  well  to  bear 
in  mind  that  the  peculiar  nature  and  requirements  of  the 
Foreign  Office  demanded  and  probably  always  will  demand, 
considerable  departures  from  the  methods  of  appointment 
which  prevail  elsewhere: 

*  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  P.  3i9-  Sir  Thomas  was  neither  bhnd 
nor  bigoted.  He  made  the  mistake  of  generaUzing  from  the  Revenue 
departments.  These  were  in  advance  of  other  offices.  As  early  as  1820 
Lord  Melbourne  had  instituted  in  the  Customs  and  Excise  offices  high 
qualifying  examinations,  filling  of  higher  offices  by  existing  members 
of  the  service,  a  qualified  system  of  promotion  by  merit,  including  the 
opening  of  certain  superior  appointments  to  the  lowest  ranks.  The 
unqualified  success  of  these  provisions  had  anticipated  the  course  of 
reform. 


32  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [32 

I  fully  admit  the  existence  of  partial  blots  in  several  of 
the  Government  Departments,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  even  in  the  best  offices  there  is  room  for  amendment ;  but 
having  myself  been  for  twelve  years  personally  connected  with 
the  Foreign  Office,  and  having  seen  day  after  day  an  incredible 
amount  of  work  done  in  that  Office  with  a  degree  of  dispatch 
and  accuracy  not  easily  to  be  surpassed ;  having  also  witnessed 
in  the  same  office  a  demeanour  and  a  spirit  of  which  it  would 
be  difficult  to  speak  too  highly,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  con- 
ceive that  a  system  of  Civil  Service  can  be  flagrantly  and  fun- 
damentally bad  under  which  such  an  office  has  grown  up  and 
such  working  power  is  daily  exhibited.  For  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Foreign  Office  there  is  no  peculiar  feature  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  other  Offices  of  State  of  the  higher  class. 
The  clerks  have  always  been  appointed  by  the  Head  of  the 
Department ;  there  has  been  no  examination,  "  competing  "  or 
simple,  either  prior  to  admission  or  to  subsequent  promotion ; 
neither  has  there  been  any  fixed  period  of  probation.  .  .  .  Every 
clerk  has  .  .  .  entered  as  a  mere  copying  clerk,  and  has  worked 
his  way  upwards,  improving  and  educating  himself  as  he  zvent 
from  one  stage  to  another;  and  the  result  is  an  office  of  un- 
surpassed, if  not  unequalled,  working  power  and  good  con- 
duct. ...  I  conscientiously  beheve,  that  by  applying  a  very 
moderate  amount  of  correction  here  and  there  to  departments 
in  which  defects  are  foimd  to  exist,  at  least  as  much  good  work 
may  be  obtained  under  the  present  system  from  those  em- 
ployed in  the  Civil  Service — I  speak  of  the  highci-  departments, 
— as  from  any  Civil  Servants  in  the  world ;  and,  moreover,  as 
much  as  can  justly  be  expected  by  the  Government  or  public 
from  its  Civil  Servants.^ 

In  a  pamphlet  ^  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer 

^  Civil  Service  Papers.  1854-5,  PP-  348-349- 

*  Observations  upon  the  Report  by  Sir  C.  E.  Trevclyan  and  Sir  S. 
H.  Northcote  on  the  Organication  of  the  Permanent  Civil  Service, 
1854- 


33]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  185S  33 

later  on,  there  are  quotations  from  various  newspapers  of 
1854,  loud  in  their  denunciation  of  commissioners  who  had 
weighed  the  civil  servants  and  found  them  wanting.  The 
permanent  head  of  the  Home  Office,  the  Auditor  of  the 
Civil  List  and  Comptroller  of  the  National  Debt  Office  were 
among  the  prominent  civil  servants  who  expressed  the 
keenest  resentment  at  what  they  called  the  unjust  and  un- 
founded imputations  on  the  character  of  the  civil  service. 

The  truth  w^ould  seem  to  be  that  there  was  a  great 
divergence  in  different  departments.  All  sweeping  gen- 
eralities about  the  personnel  and  efficiency  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice of  the  decade  before  1854  were  in  a  sense  false,  for 
there  were  departments  presided  over  by  such  men  as 
Fremantle  and  Addington  which  set  up  a  high  standard 
of  entrance  examination  and  an  admirable  organization  and 
conduct  of  business,  while  there  were  other  departments 
more  under  the  baneful  influence  of  the  Patronage  Secre- 
tary or  of  a  compliant  minister,  which  perpetuated  some 
of  the  worst  abuses  of  eighteenth  century  maladministra- 
tion. 

In  studying  civil  service  patronage  in  the  United  States 
we  can  get  a  reasonably  clear  idea  of  conditions  at  any 
period  by  studying  the  attitude  and  acts  of  the  president. 
In  England  not  only  the  prime  minister,  but  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  and  the  parliamentary  and  permanent 
heads  of  other  departments  had  each  his  own  policy  or 
standard.  If  there  was  patronage  in  one  department  un- 
der Jackson  there  was  patronage  in  all — but  in  1853  in 
England  there  were  as  many  policies  as  there  were  min- 
isters. Chadwick,  the  head  of  the  Poor  Law  Commission, 
was  able  to  abolish  patronage  in  local  government  positions 
after  encountering  powerful  opposition,  with  resulting  bene- 
fits which  read  like  a  fairy  tale.  The  same  results  were 
similarly  attained  in  the  Education  Department  and  the 


34  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [34 

Board  of  Public  Works/  Again  the  trouble  involved  in 
managing  the  70  clerks  which  the  Law  Stationer  supplied 
to  the  Poor  Law  Commission  increased  so  much  that 
Chadwick  decided  to  have  all  the  work  done  as  piece  work 
by  mere  copyists.  The  result  was  that  the  work  was  done 
by  35  instead  of  70  clerks,  and  that  these  35  increased  their 
pay  from  £60  and  £70  to  £80,  £90  and  £100.  Another 
department  was  prevented  from  introducing  this  system 
by  the  Parliamentary  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  who  needed 
patronage. 

Perhaps  we  cannot  get  a  more  vivid  idea  of  the  differ- 
ences in  departments  than  from  Anthony  Trollope's  des- 
cription of  the  entrance  into  the  civil  service  of  two  of  the 
heroes  of  The  Three  Clerks: 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  Weights  and  Measures  is 
a  well-conducted  office ;  indeed  ...  it  may  be  said  to  stand 
quite  alone  as  a  high  model  for  all  other  public  offices  what- 
ever. It  is  exactly  antipodistic  to  the  Circumlocution  Office,^ 
and  as  such  is  always  referred  to  in  the  House  of  Commons 
by  the  gentleman  representing  the  Government  when  any  attack 
on  the  Civil  Service  generally  is  being  made.  .  .  ,  The  esoteric 
crowd  of  the  Civil  Service,  that  is,  the  great  body  of  clerks 
attached  to  other  offices,  regard  their  brethren  of  the  Weights 
as  prigs  and  pedants,  and  look  on  them  much  as  a  master's 
favourite  is  apt  to  be  regarded  by  other  boys  at  school. 

Henry  Norman  was  educated  at  public  school,  and  thence 
sent  to  Oxford ;  but  before  he  had  finished  his  first  year  at 
Brasenose  his  father  was  obliged  to  withdraw  him  from  it, 
finding  himself  unable  to  bear  the  expense  of  a  university  edu- 
cation for  his  two  sons.    .    .    . 

Whether  Ilarry  Norman  gained  or  lost  most  by  the  change 
we  need  not  now  consider,  but  at  the  age  of  nineteen  he  left 

1  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  PP-  142-150. 
»  Cf.  Dickens,  Little  Dorrit. 


35]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  ^^ 

Oxford  and  entered  on  his  new  duties.  It  must  not,  however, 
be  supposed  that  this  was  a  step  which  he  took  without  diffi- 
culty and  without  pause.  It  is  true  that  the  grand  modern 
scheme  for  competitive  examinations  had  not  as  yet  been  com- 
posed. Had  this  been  done,  and  had  it  been  carried  out,  how 
awful  must  have  been  the  cramming  necessary  to  get  a  lad 
into  the  Weights  and  Measures!  But,  even  as  things  were 
then,  it  was  no  easy  matter  for  a  young  man  to  convince  the 
chief  clerk  ^  that  he  had  all  the  requirements  necessary  for  the 
high  position  to  which  he  aspired. 

Indeed,  that  chief  clerk  was  insatiable,  and  generally  suc- 
ceeded in  making  every  candidate  conceive  the  very  lowest 
opinion  of  himself  and  his  own  capacities  before  the  examina- 
tion was  over.  Some,  of  course,  were  sent  away  at  once  with 
ignominy  as  evidently  incapable.  Many  retired  in  the  middle 
of  it  with  the  conviction  that  they  must  seek  their  fortunes  at 
the  bar,  or  in  medical  pursuits,  or  some  other  comparatively 
easy  walk  of  life.  Others  were  rejected  on  the  fifth  or  sixth 
day  as  being  deficient  in  conic  sections,  or  ignorant  of  the 
exact  principles  of  hydraulic  pressure.  And  even  those  who 
were  retained  were  so  retained,  as  it  were,  by  an  act  of  grace. 
The  Weights  and  Measures  was,  and  indeed  is,  like  heaven ; 
no  man  can  deserve  it.  No  candidate  can  claim  as  his  right 
to  be  admitted  to  the  fruition  of  the  appointment  which  has 
been  given  him.  Henry  Norman  was  found  at  the  close  of  his 
examination  to  be  the  least  undeserving  of  the  young  men 
then  under  notice  and  was  duly  installed  in  his  clerkship. 

It  need  hardly  be  explained  that  to  secure  so  high  a  level 
of  information  as  that  required  at  the  Weights  and  Measures, 
a  scale  of  salaries  equally  exalted  has  been  found  necessary. 
Young  men  consequently  enter  at  £ioo  a  year.  We  are  speak- 
ing, of  course,  of  that  more  respectable  branch  of  the  estab- 
lishment called  the  Secretary's  Department.     At  none  other 

'  Sir  Gregory  Hardlines  is  drawn  from  real  life,  and  represents  Sir 
C.  E.  Trevelyan,  the  famous  civil  service  reformer  and  exponent  of 
competitive  examinations.     See  third  chapter. 


36  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [36 

of  our  public  offices  do  men  commence  with  more  than  £90 
except,  of  course,  at  those  in  which  political  confidence  is  re- 
quired. Political  confidence  is  indeed  as  expensive  as  hy- 
draulic pressure,  though  generally  found  to  be  less  difficult  of 
attainment. 

Quite  different  was  the  experience  of  Charley  Tudor,  an- 
other clerk,  on  entering  the  Internal  Navigation  office. 

The  men  of  the  Internal  Navigation  are  known  to  be  fast, 
nay,  almost  furious,  in  their  pace  of  living;  not  that  they  are 
extravagant  in  any  degree,  a  fault  which  their  scale  of  salaries 
very  generally  forbids,  but  they  are  one  and  all  addicted  to 
Coal  Holes  and  Cider  Cellars ;  they  dive  at  midnight  hours 
into  Shades,  and  know  all  the  back  parlours  of  all  the  public 
houses  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Strand.  Here  they  leave 
messages  for  one  another,  and  call  the  girl  at  the  bar  by  her 
Christian  name.  They  are  a  set  of  men  endowed  with  sallow 
complexions,  and  they  wear  loud  clothing,  and  spend  more 
money  in  gin  and  in  water  than  in  gloves. 

The  establishment  is  not  unusually  denominated  the  "  In- 
fernal Navigation,"  and  the  gentlemen  employed  are  not  alto- 
gether displeased  at  having  it  so  called.  .  .  . 

The  spirit  who  guards  the  entrance  into  this  elysium  is  by 
no  means  so  difficult  to  deal  with  as  Mr.  Hardlines.  And 
it  is  well  that  it  was  so  some  years  since  for  young  Charley 
Tudor — for  Charley  would  never  have  passed  muster  at  the 
Weights  and  Measures.  Charles  Tudor  ...  is  the  son  of  a 
clergy^man,  who  has  a  moderate  living  on  the  Welsh  border, 
in  Shropshire.  Had  he  known  to  what  sort  of  work  he  was 
sending  his  son,  he  might  have  hesitated  before  he  accepted 
for  him  a  situation  at  the  Internal  Navigation  Office.  He  was, 
however,  too  happy  in  getting  it  to  make  many  inquiries  as  to 
its  nature.  .  .  .  Exactly  at  10  in  the  morning  Qiarley  walked 
into  the  lobby  of  his  future  workshop,  and  found  no  one  yet 
there  but  two  aged,  seedy  messengers.  He  was  shown  into  a 
waiting-room,  and  there  he  remained  for  a  couple  of  hours, 


37]  THE  ENGLISH  CHHL  SERVICE  IN  1S53  ^^ 

during  which  every  clerk  in  the  establishment  came  to  have  a 
look  at  him.  At  last  he  was  ushered  into  the  Secretary's  room. 
"Ah !"  said  the  Secretary,  "  your  name  is  Tudor,  isn't  it  ?" 

Charley  confessed  to  the  fact.  "  Yes,"  said  the  Secretary, 
"  I  have  heard  about  you  from  Sir  Gilbert  de  Salop  .  .  .  and 
you  wish  to  serve  the  Queen?"  said  the  Secretary. 

Charley,  not  quite  knowing  whether  this  was  a  joke  or 
not,  said  he  did.  "  Quite  right — it  is  a  fair  ambition,"  con- 
tinued the  great  official  functionary,  "  quite  right — but,  mind 
you,  Mr.  Tudor,  if  you  come  to  us  you  must  come  to  work. 
I  hope  you  like  hard  work.  You  should  do  so  if  you  intend 
to  remain  with  us.  .  .  .  The  Internal  Navigation  requires 
great  steadiness,  good  natural  abilities,  considerable  education, 
and — and — and  no  end  of  application." 

With  these  preliminaries  Charley  was  put  through  an  ex- 
amination which  consisted  of  copying  a  leading  article  from 
a  newspaper.  He  misspelled  several  words  and  then  dropped 
a  blot  on  the  paper.  The  Secretary  then  sent  him  home 
to  do  some  more  copying  at  leisure,  and  the  next  day 
Charley  came  back  with  his  carefully  prepared  manuscript, 
only  to  find  that  his  examination  w^as  already  passed  and 
that  he  had  been  appointed  an  "Infernal  Navvy."  He  soon 
found  out  that  the  assurance  made  to  him  by  Mr.  Secretary 
Oldschole,  that  the  Internal  Navigation  was  a  place  of  her- 
culean labours,  was  a  matter  of  the  most  delightful  ridicule. 
He  was  one  of  six  young  men  who  habitually  spent  about 
five  hours  a  day  in  the  same  room,  and  whose  chief  employ- 
ment was  to  render  the  life  of  the  w^retched  chief  clerk,  Mr. 
Snape,  as  unendurable  as  possible.  "  There  were  copies, 
and  entries  to  be  made,  and  books  to  be  indexed.  But  these 
things  were  generally  done  by  some  extra  hand,  as  to  the 
necessity  of  whose  attendance  for  such  purpose  Mr.  Snape 
was  forced  to  testify." 

Lest  anyone  should  think  this  account  and  the  subsequent 


jp»,  .<  ^  f"  ^>  <"$  ^ 


38  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [38 

description  of  Charley's  shortcomings  and  debts  highly- 
colored,  it  may  be  well  to  mention  that  Charley  is  Trollope 
himself  and  that  such  an  examination  and  such  conditions 
actually  existed  in  the  Post  Office  when  Trollope,  who  later 
became  a  high  official,  was  a  clerk  there  from  1834-1841/ 

Post  Office  memoirs  of  the  next  decade  are  carried  on 
by  Edmund  Yates,  the  author  and  playwright.  Yates  liad 
an  even  keener  sense  of  humor  than  Trollope,  and  the  Post 
Office  afforded  plenty  of  stimulation.  On  his  promotion 
by  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  the  famous  postal  reformer,  Yates 
writes : 

In  my  new  position  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  the  virtual  head 
of  my  office,  the  Secretary,  Colonel  Maberly,  and  was  fre- 
quently brought  into  communication  with  him  so  long  as  he 
remained  with  us.  .  .  .  He  used  to  arrive  about  eleven  o'clock, 
and  announce  his  arrival  by  tearing  at  the  bell  for  his  break- 
fast. This  bell  brought  the  head  messenger,  whose  services 
he  arrogated  to  himself,  who,  being  a  venerable-looking  and 
eminently  respectable  personage,  probably  well-to-do  in  the 
world,  was  disgusted  at  having  to  kneel  at  the  Colonel's  feet, 
and  receive  the  Colonel's  dirty  boots  into  his  arms  with  the 
short  adjuration,  "Now,  Francis,  my  straps!"  He  wrote  a 
most  extraordinary  illegible  hand,  and  perhaps  for  that  reason 
scarcely  any  holograph  beyond  his  signature  is  to  be  found  in 
the  official  records.  The  custom  was  for  certain  clerks  of  rec- 
ognized status,  who  had  a  distinct  portion  of  the  official  work 

'  "  I  was  taken,  therefore,  to  the  assistant  secretary,  and  by  him  I 
was  examined  as  to  my  fitness.  The  story  of  that  examination  is  given 
accurately  in  one  of  the  opening  chapters  of  a  novel  written  by  me, 
called  The  Three  Clerks.  If  any  reader  of  this  memoir  would  refer 
to  that  chapter  and  see  how  Charley  Tudor  was  supposed  to  have  been 
admitted  into  the  Internal  Navigation  Office,  that  reader  will  learn 
how  Anthony  Trollope  was  actually  admitted  into  the  Secretary's 
office  of  the  General  Post  Office  in  1834."  An  Autobiography  by  An- 
thony Trollope  (London,  1883),  p.  47. 


39]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  39 

in  their  charge,  to  submit  the  reports  which  had  been  received 
from  the  postmasters  or  district  surveyors,  on  complaints  or 
suggestions  of  the  pubhc,  to  the  Secretary,  and  receive  his 
instructions  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued,  or  the  style  of 
reply  to  bs  sent.  This  performance  we  used  to  call  "  taking  in 
papers  to  the  Colonel,"  and  a  very  curious  performance  it  was. 
The  Colonel,  a  big,  heavily-built,  elderly  man,  would  sit  in  a 
big  chair,  with  his  handkerchief  over  his  knees  and  two  or 
three  private  letters  before  him.  Into  a  closely  neighbouring 
seat  the  clerk  would  drop,  placing  his  array  of  official  docu- 
ments on  the  table.  Greetings  exchanged,  the  Colonel,  reading 
his  private  letters,  would  dig  his  elbow  into  the  clerk's  ribs, 
saying,  "  Well,  my  good  fellow,  what  have  you  got  there — very 
important  papers,  eh  ?"  "  I  don't  know,  sir ;  some  of  them  are, 
perhaps — "  "  Yes,  yes,  my  good  fellow ;  no  doubt  you  think 
they're  very  important:  /  call  them  damned  twopenny- 
ha'penny  !  Now  read,  my  good  fellow,  read !"  Thus  ad- 
jured, the  clerk  would  commence  reading  aloud  one  of  his 
documents.  The  Colonel,  still  half  engaged  with  his  private 
correspondence,  would  hear  enough  to  make  him  keep  up  a 
running  commentary  of  disparaging  grunts,  "  Pooh !  stuff ! 
upon  my  soul !"  &c.  Then  the  clerk,  having  come  to  the  end 
of  the  manuscript,  would  stop,  waiting  for  orders;  and  there 
would  ensue  a  dead  silence,  broken  by  the  Colonel,  who,  hav- 
ing finished  his  private  letters,  would  look  up  and  say,  "  Well, 
my  good  fellow,  well?"  "  That's  all,  sir."  "And  quite  enough 
too.  Go  on  to  the  next !"  "  But  what  shall  I  say  to  this  ap- 
plicant, sir?"  "  Say  to  him?  Tell  him  to  go  and  be  damned, 
my  good  fellow !"  and  on  our  own  reading  of  those  instructions 
we  had  very  frequently  to  act.  With  all  this.  Colonel  Maberly 
was  a  clear-headed  man  of  business;  old-fashioned,  inclined 
to  let  matters  run  in  their  ordinary  groove,  detesting  all  projects 
of  reform,  and  having  an  abiding  horror  of  Rowland  Hill.^ 

^Edmund  Yates,  His  Recollections  and  Experiences  (London,  1884), 
vol.  i,  pp.  96-99. 


40  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [40 

So  much  for  the  permanent  head  of  the  Post  Office. 
Yates'  experience  with  the  Postmaster  General,  Lord 
Stanley,  was  even  more  astonishing.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  his  lordship's  signature  be  attached  to  a 
certain  warrant  before  midnight,  or  the  whole  warrant 
would  have  lapsed  as  informal.  Lord  Stanley  was  sup- 
posed to  be  at  the  Newmarket  races ;  and  Yates  was  selected 
for  the  disagreeable  job  of  bearding  him  there.  He  went 
to  Lord  Stanley's  residence  and  found  that  he  had  just 
returned  from  Newmarket.     This  is  his  story : 

I  gave  the  man  Sir  Rowland's  letter  of  introduction,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  was  bidden  to  follow  him.  I  can  see  that  room 
and  the  scene  which  occurred  perfectly,  plainly,  at  the  pres- 
ent moment.  Standing  on  the  hearthrug,  with  his  back  to  the 
fireplace,  and  facing  me  as  I  entered,  was  a  thickset  elderly 
man  of  middle  height.  On  a  table  close  by  him  was  a  yellow 
paper-covered  French  novel  .  .  .  and  on  a  further  table  were 
three  or  four  of  the  heavy  leather  pouches  in  which  official 
documents  were  forwarded  to  the  Postmaster  General.  As  the 
butler  closed  the  door  behind  me,  I  made  the  gentleman  a  bow, 
of  which  he  took  not  the  smallest  notice.  He  did  not  offer  me 
a  seat,  so  I  remained  standing  ..."  What  do  you  want?"  was 
his  gracious  query.  "  I  have  come  about  the  reduction  of  the 
registration-fee,  my  lord.  I  thought  Sir  Rowland  Hill  had 
explained  in  his  letter.  It  is  necessary  that  your  lordship's 
signature — ."  "  Yes,  yes,  I  know  all  about  that,"  he  inter- 
rupted. "  I  have  signed  the  damned  thing !"  going  to  one  of  the 
official  pouches  and  rummaging  in  it.  "  It's  here  somewhere — 
no,  that's  not  it.  I  can't  find  it ;  but  I  know  I've  signed  it.  Look 
here,  have  you  got  a  cab  outside  ?"  "  Yes,  my  lord."  "  Then," 
pointing  to  them,  "  just  take  these  pouches  back  to  the  Office; 
you'll  find  it  when  you  get  there."  It  was  just  too  much.  I 
am  of  a  hot  temper  and  I  boiled  over.  "  What!"  I  cried,  in  a 
tone  w^hich  made  my  friend  jump  again.  "What !  do  you  expect 
me  to  carry  those  bags  to  the  cab?     If  you  want  that  done, 


41  ]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  ^j 

ring  the  bell  and  tell  your  servant  to  do  it.  I'm  not  your  ser- 
vant, and  I  won't  carry  bags  for  you  or  any  man  in  London !" 
He  looked  petrified ;  but  he  rang  the  bell.  "  What's  your  name, 
sir  ?"  he  asked.  "  My  name  is  Yates,  my  lord,"  I  replied.  "  I 
don't  like  your  manner,  sir,"  said  he.    "And  I  don't  like  yours, 

my  lord,"  I  rattled  out "  You  shall  hear  more  of  this,  sir !" 

"  Whenever  you  please,  my  lord ;  I  shall  be  quite  ready !"  and 
off  I  went.  ...  I  did  not  hear  any  more  of  it  in  the  way  I 
anticipated.  But  the  story  got  wind,  and  another  was  speed- 
ily improvised  to  the  effect  that  Lord  Stanley  had  been  so 
frightened  by  my  display  of  independence  that  the  next  time 
one  of  the  messengers  was  sent  to  him.  with  some  official 
papers,  he  rushed  at  the  astonished  man,  seized  him  warmly 
by  the  hand,  and  insisted  on  his  stopping  to  luncheon.^ 

Even  in  the  departments  where  the  efficiency  of  the  chief 
offfcials  and  of  the  clerks  was  highest,  there  flourished  not 
infrequently  a  bureaucratic  formalism  w'hich  was  the  more 
dangerous  because  the  powers  of  the  under  secretary  and 
his  chief  clerks  were  in  many  cases  almost  unlimited. 
Such  cases  arose  through  the  necessary  absorption  of  the 
minister  at  the  head  of  the  office  in  political  business  and 
ambitions.  Sir  Henry  Taylor,  an  Under  Secretary  of  the 
Colonial  Office  who  wielded  an  enormous  power,  explained 
the  position  of  the  minister  in  his  somewhat  Machiavellian 
essay  on  The  Statesman.^ 

The  far  greater  proportion  of  the  duties  which  are  per- 
formed in  the  office  of  a  minister,  are  and  must  be  performed 
under  no  effective  responsibility.  Where  politics  and  parties 
are  not  affected  by  the  matter  in  question,  and  so  long  as  there 
is  no  flagrant  neglect  or  glaring  injustice  which  a  party  can 
take  hold  of,  the  responsibility  to  Parliament  is  merely  nom- 

1  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  io6. 

2  London,  1836.     Cf.  Chapter  on  Reform  of  the  Executive,  p.  I55- 


42  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [42 

inal,  or  falls  otherwise  only  through  casualty,  caprice,  and  a 
misemployment  of  the  time  due  from  Parliament  to  legislative 
affairs.  Thus  the  business  of  the  office  may  be  reduced  within 
a  very  manageable  compass,  without  creating  public  scandal, 
By  evading  decisions  wherever  they  can  be  evaded,  by  shifting 
them  on  other  departments  and  authorities  wherever  they  can 
be  shifted,  by  giving  decisions  on  superficial  examinations, — 
categorically,  so  as  not  to  expose  the  superficiality  in  expound- 
ing the  reasons ;  by  deferring  questions  till,  as  Lord  Bacon 
says,  "  they  resolve  of  themselves ;"  by  undertaking  nothing  for 
the  public  good,  which  the  public  voice  does  not  call  for ;  by 
conciliating  loud  and  energetic  individuals  at  the  expense  of 
such  public  interests  as  are  dumb  or  do  not  attract  attention; 
by  sacrificing  everywhere  what  is  feeble  and  obscure  to  what 
is  influential  and  cognizable;  by  such  means  and  shifts  as  these, 
the  single  functionary  granted  by  the  theory,  may  reduce  his 
business  within  his  powers,  and  perhaps  obtain  for  himself 
the  most  valuable  of  all  reputations  in  this  line  of  life,  that 
of  a  "  safe  man." 

Under  these  conditions  the  actual  control  of  the  office 
falls  more  and  more  to  the  under  secretary  and  the  chief 
clerks,  especially  if  they  be  old,  experienced  civil  servants 
of  strong  character.  Such  dependence  of  the  ministry  on 
the  permanent  officials  is  to  some  extent  inevitable  and  will 
always  exist;  but  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
especially  in  the  Colonial  Office,  the  domination  of  the  per- 
manent officials  was  so  complete  and  its  effects  so  irritat- 
ing and  harmful  to  the  colonies  that  the  strongest  pro- 
tests were  made  against  it.  Charles  Buller's  Responsible 
Government  for  Colonics  contains  a  bitter  character 
sketch  of  Rogers,  who  was  then  the  leading  permanent  offi- 
cial in  the  Colonial  Office,  whom  he  calls  "  Mr.  Mother- 
country  ".  Mr.  Mothercountry  is  thoroughly  efficient,  ab- 
solutely methodical  and  rules  the  colonies  after  long  es- 


43]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1855  ^^ 

tablished  precedents,  from  which  he  departs  only  under 
the  inspiration  of  certain  merchants  and  politicians  whose 
influence  greatly  outweighs  that  of  the  colonists  them- 
selves. The  actual  needs  of  the  colonists  Mr.  Mother- 
country  is  by  temperament  unwilling,  and  by  training  un- 
able, to  consider.  Successive  ministers  find  that  they  must 
consult  Mr.  Mothercountry  or  blunder  and  lose  their  repu- 
tations as  "  safe  "  men.  Thus  by  dint  of  unremitting  toil 
and  of  mastery  of  a  routine  which  no  one  else  can  under- 
stand, Mr.  Mothercountry,  the  sober,  starched,  middle-class 
English  clerk  with  a  large  family  in  the  suburbs,  becomes 
the  dc  facto  ruler  of  the  British  colonies.  The  patronage 
which  Mr.  Mothercountry  uses  to  conciliate  the  various 
juntos  and  interests  "  is  the  prey  of  every  hungry  depart- 
ment of  the  government.  Jobs  which  Parliamentary  rapa- 
city would  blush  to  ask  from  the  Treasury  are  perpetuated 
with  impunity  in  the  silent  realm  of  Mr.  Mothercountry." 
Sir  James  Stephen  who,  as  legal  adviser  and  later  as  Un- 
der Secretary,  was  virtually  the  Colonial  Office  for  many 
years,  had  many  of  the  bureaucratic  characteristics  of  Mr. 
Mothercountry,  and  was  better  fitted  to  be  a  professor  of 
modern  history  at  Cambridge  than  a  maker  of  modern 
history  at  Whitehall.^  The  masterly  report  of  Lord  Dur- 
ham on  The  Affairs  of  British  North  America  complained 
boldly  that  the  acute  state  of  civil  strife  was  in  no  small 
measure  due  to  the  fact  that  the  real  management  of  the 
colonies  fell  into  the  hands  of  "  the  permanent,  but  utterly 
irresponsible  members  of  the  Office." 

'  Sir  James'  more  famous  son,  Sir  James  Fitzjames  Stephen,  seems  ap- 
parently to  have  thought  his  father's  authority  in  the  Colonial  Office  un- 
duly restricted :  "  The  difficulty  of  the  transaction  of  all  this  business 
was  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  though  great  weight  was  attached  to 
Sir  James  Stephen's  opinions  and  advice  by  his  official  superiors,  and 
though  he  held  strong  opinions  of  his  own  upon  the  subjects  which 
came  before  him,  he  had  no  real  authority  whatever."  Introduction 
to  Essays  on  Ecclesiastical  Biography  by  Sir  James  Stephen. 


44  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [44 

The  result  of  this  bureaucratic  misrule  from  the  point 
of  view  of  disgruntled  colonists  is  well  summarized  by 
Carlyle : 

Every  colony,  every  agent  for  a  matter  colonial,  has  his 
tragic  tale  to  tell  you  of  his  sad  experiences  in  the  Colonial 
Office ;  what  blind  obstructions,  fatal  indolences,  pedantries, 
stupidities,  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  he  had  to  do  battle 
with;  what  a  world-wide  jungle  of  redtape,  inhabited  by  dole- 
ful creatures,  deaf  or  nearly  so  to  human  reason  or  entreaty, 
he  had  entered  on ;  and  how  he  paused  in  amazement,  almost 
in  despair ;  passionately  appealed  now  to  this  doleful  creature, 
now  to  that,  and  to  the  dead  redtape  jungle,  and  to  the  living 
Universe  itself,  and  to  the  Voices  and  to  the  Silences; — and, 
on  the  whole,  found  that  it  was  an  adventure,  in  sorrowful  fact, 
equal  to  the  fabulous  ones  by  old  knights-errant  against  dragons 
and  wizards  in  enchanted  wildernesses  and  waste  howling 
solitudes ;  not  achievable  except  by  nearly  superhuman  exer- 
cise of  all  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  and  unexpected  favour 
of  the  special  blessing  of  Heaven.  .  .  .  Such  is  his  report  of 
the  Colonial  Ofhce ;  and  if  we  oftener  hear  such  a  report  of 
that  than  we  do  of  the  Home  Office,  ...  or  the  rest, — the 
reason  probably  is,  that  Colonies  excite  more  attention  at 
present  than  any  of  our  other  interests.^ 

It  was  indeed  high  time  that  the  whole  question  of  civil 
service  organization  and  personnel  was  honestly  investi- 
gated. The  patronage  system  had  become  more  and  more 
intolerable  as  public  opinion  became  more  educated. 
Members  of  Parliament  and  the  Treasury  ministers 
themselves  were  growing  weary  of  the  incessant  demands 
of  office  seekers,  and  of  the  contemptible  meanness  and 
petty  irritations  attendant  on  a  distribution  of  favors 
which  in  the  end  left  everyone  dissatisfied.     The  reform 

^Latter  Day  Pamphlets,  "Downing  Street"  (London,  1885),  pp. 
77,  78. 


45]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  185S  ^r 

movement  had  already  begun  in  certain  departments  under 
the  more  enlightened  and  courageous  officials;  but  there 
was  no  uniform  system  or  standard  of  examination  at 
admission,  of  probation,  of  division  of  labor  according  to 
intellectual  or  mechanical  requirements,  of  promotion,  of 
office  foutine,  of  salaries.  The  discipline  and  efficiency  of 
different  parts  of  the  service  varied  enormously,  and  al- 
most all  of  them  were  overstaffed,  and  in  the  conduct  of 
business  archaic,  unpractical,  and  wasteful.  What  was 
needed  was  a  renovation  of  each  office  according  to  its 
peculiar  requirements  and  a  complete  reorganization  of 
the  civil  service  personnel.  Such  a  refomi  could  not 
have  come  from  the  House  of  Commons.  As  a  prominent 
civilian  of  the  day  put  it: 

Notwithstanding  the  constant  interference  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  matters  relating  to  the  Civil  Service,  the  reform 
of  the  Civil  Service  remains  just  where  it  was.  Their  single 
panacea  for  all  the  evils  they  supposed  to  exist  in  it  is,  w^s, 
and  ever  will  be,  retrenchment,  the  abolition  and  consolidation 
of  offices,  and  the  diminution  of  salaries.  The  mode  of  mak- 
ing the  service  efficient  seems  never  to  have  entered  their 
minds ;  and  the  real  reform  of  the  Civil  Service  is  still  left 
for  the  Civil  Service  itself  to  accomplish.^ 

Evidently,  then,  this  was  a  task  which  the  Treasury  was 
best  qualified  to  undertake.  The  Treasury  supervises  the 
revenue  departments  with  their  enormous  roll  of  minor 
employees,  and  it  controls  the  expenditure,  therefore  the 
organization,  of  all  departments.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  for 
some  five  years  before  1853,^  Sir  Charles  Trevelyan  (who, 

1  Civil  Service  Papers,  185/f-S,  p.  272. 

1  "  The  revolutionary  period"  (1848),  which,  says  Sir  Charles  Tre- 
velyan, "  gave  us  a  shake  and  created  a  disposition  to  put  our  house 
in  order  ".  Parliamentary  Papers,  1875,  xxiii,  Second  Report  of  Com- 
mission of  Inquiry  into  the  Civil  Service,  Appendix. 


46  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [46 

it  is  significant  to  remember,  was  Macaiilay's  brother-in- 
law),  assisted  by  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  and  others,  had 
been  investigating  various  public  offices. 

The  investigation  began  modestly  enough  with  the 
Treasury  establishment  itself.  It  was  then  extended  to 
other  departments.  These  inquiries  were  undertaken  with 
practical  objects.  The  commissioners  found  many  defects 
and  suggested  specific  remedies  as  they  went  along.  On 
pursuing  their  inquiries  through  various  offices,  the  same 
deficiencies  were  found  to  exist,  with  varieties  in  the  par- 
ticular circumstances.  Sameness  of  evils  suggested  uni- 
formity of  remedies,  and  out  of  the  separate  inquiries  the 
idea  of  a  general  reorganization  sprang  up  naturally.^ 

The  real  general  reorganization  of  the  civil  service  is 
sketched  in  a  report  of  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  and  Sir 
Charles  Trevelyan,  some  twenty  pages  long,  which  aroused  a 
discussion  which  fills  a  large  volume  and  extends  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  official  criticism  and  blue  books.  The  great 
problem  which  the  two  commissioners  undertook  to  solve 
was  that  of  combating  all  patronage,  of  reorganizing  the 
personnel  of  the  service,  of  raising  the  standard  of  clerk- 
ships and  attracting  the  best  talent  among  young  men  to  do 
the  intellectual  work  of  the  offices.  Let  no  one,  in  the  light 
of  modern  experience,  think  this  problem  was  an  easy  one. 
The  solution  which  seems  to  most  of  us  so  natural  and 
simple  today,  was  fraught  with  gravest  dangers  in  the 
eyes  of  the  most  enlightened  half  a  century  ago,  and  was 
realized  only  after  a  long  and  arduous  struggle,  though  by 
no  means  universally  accepted  or  enforced.     It  was  easy 

*  Cf.  Spectator,  March  4,  1854,  and  Sir  Charles  Trevelyan's  substan- 
tiation in  Second  Report  Civil  Service  Inquiry  Commission,  1875,  Ap- 
pendix. 


47]  THE  ENGLISH  CIVIL  SERVICE  IN  1853  ^^ 

enough  for  Carlyle  '  to  thunder  forth  with  that  excremental 
eloquence  of  which  he  was  a  master,  demands  that  the  ten 
or  more  most  heroic  statesmen  of  the  day  be  forthwith 
sought  out  and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  government  offices 
to  clean  out  these  Augean  stables  and  the  "  obscene  owl- 
droppings  "  of  generations  of  stupid,  hooting  officialism. 
The  commissioners  had  a  sterner  task  before  them  than  to 
plan  an  heroic  civil  service  for  Heaven  or  Valhalla 
— and  yet  it  was  just  this  ideal  of  Carlyle's  of  the  civil 
servant  of  luminous  intelligence  wh'ch  was  to  appear  in 
the  Report  of  1853  ^^d  to  constitute  its  most  startling 
feature. 

But  it  was  hardly  to  Carlyle  that  the  commissioners  owed 
this  or  the  other  new  ideas  in  their  report.  It  is  very 
doubtful  whether  they  could  have  invented  them  themselves, 
without  impulse  or  precedent.  The  new  plan  sprang  from 
the  genius  of  Macaulay,  who  had  created  a  new  civil 
service  for  India  which  produced  all  the  features  of  the 
Report  of  1853.  Though  in  the  nature  of  things  no  less 
controversial  than  that  of  his  brother-in-law,  Macaulay 's 
plan  had  been  put  into  effect  immediately  and  almost  with- 
out dissent.  Before  we  consider  the  Report  of  1853,  we 
must  pause  and  review  briefly  the  history  of  the  East  India 
civil  service  up  to  that  date. 

^  Latter  Day  Pamphlets,  "  Downing  Street "  and  "  The  New  Down- 
ing Street." 


CHAPTER  II 
Macaulay  and  The  Indian  Civil  Service 

"  The  creation  of  this  [the  Home]  service  was  the  one 
great  poHtical  invention  in  nineteenth-century  England,  and 
like  all  other  inventions,  it  was  worked  out  under  the  pressure 
of  an  urgent,  practical  problem — the  problem  of  the  Indian 
Civil  Service." — ^Graham  Wallas,  Human  Nature  in  Politics. 


A  NOT  overscrupulous  trading-  company,  guided  by  a  wise 
expediency,  gradually  extended  its  dominion  over  Madras, 
Bombay,  and  Bengal,  and  over  millions  of  Indian  people 
elsewhere,  and  accomplished  without  much  bloodshed  and 
with  comparatively  little  injustice  to  the  natives,  results 
which  the  crown  could  probably  not  have  accomplished 
at  all.  There  are  many  reasons  why  a  chartered  company 
is  the  most  successful  of  all  conquerors  and  colonizers. 
Not  the  least  of  them  is  that  the  company  has  at  first  no 
ulterior  motives  and  rules  only  that  it  may  trade..  A  char- 
tered company  is  constrained  by  expediency  to  try  to  govern 
well.  It  may  be  unscrupulous  and  at  times  corrupt,  but 
here  the  merchant  restrains  himself  far  better  than  the  early 
proconsul  under  a  distant  and  irresponsible  executive;  its 
patronage  may  be  showered  on  its  friends,  but  its  servants 
are  capable,  even  if  they  are  not  the  men  whom  an  open 
competition  would  enlist.  But  the  position  of  a  trading 
company  turned  into  a  government  is  inevitably  a  false 
one. 

In  1784  Pitt's  India  x\ct  put  an  end  to  the  anomolous 
civil  and  military  control  of  the  East  India  Company,  but 
48  [48 


49]       MACAULAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE        40 

left  its  trading  monopoly  and  its  vast  patronage  untouched. 
Pitt  attempted  also  to  enforce  regulations  as  to  the  quali- 
fications and  promotion  of  the  company's  servants,  but 
these  seem  to  have  been  tacitly  ignored. 

Even  at  this  time  of  unregulated  patronage  the  com- 
pany's serv^ants  were  by  no  means  an  inefficient  or  corrupt 
body.  Certainly  there  were  numbers  of  young  men  who 
went  to  India  to  shake  the  pagoda  tree,  but  the  directors 
were  too  shrewd  and  too  cautious  to  endanger  their 
privileges  at  home  and  abroad  by  a  shameless  misuse  of 
their  powers.  It  is  said  that  Clive  interrupted  the  for- 
tune-hunting idlers  who  came  with  appointments  from 
the  directors,  asked  them  how  much  they  wanted,  paid  the 
amount,  and  shipped  them  back  on  the  first  vessel  for 
England.  It  is  not  improbable,  in  view  of  Fox's  famous 
India  Act,  which  was  only  defeated  through  the  personal 
interv^ention  of  the  king  and  the  threat  of  royal  displeasure, 
that  it  was  safer  at  this  time  to  entrust  the  patronage,  as 
distinguished  from  the  military  and  civil  power,  to  a  com- 
pany of  directors  than  to  leave  it  in  the  hands  of  a  min- 
istry. The  Roman  politicians  and  Tammany  Hall  might 
have  found  an  equal  in  England  if  every  member  of  the 
party  in  power  had  been  allowed  a  hand  in  the  spoils  of 
India.  Certainly  Burke's  speech  against  Warren  Hastings, 
and  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcot's  debts,  and  Pitt's  motion  for 
parliamentary  reform  in  1782,  would  go  to  show  that  thig 
danger  was  by  no  means  visionary,  and  that  there  was  a 
time  when  India,  like  the  rich  colonies  of  Rome,  bade  fair 
to  wTeak  a  terrible  vengeance  on  the  conquering  nation 
by  corrupting  her  politics  with  luxury  and  patronage.^ 
Those  who  are  prepared  to  criticize  Pitt's  scheme  of  dual 
Indian  control,  would  do  well  to  study  the  reactionary  gov- 

1  J.  R.  Seeley,  Expansion  of  England  (London,  1901),  p.  289. 


50  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [50 

ernment  of  this  period,  its  unscrupulous  use  of  every  in- 
strument to  reward  its  followers  and  to  exclude  reformers 
from  power. 

As  the  importance  of  the  civil  administration  gradually 
overshadowed  the  commercial,  Lord  Wellesley  conceived  a 
brilliant  and  somewhat  visionary  idea  of  a  training  college 
for  civil  servants  at  Calcutta,  which  should  include  all  the 
writers,  the  name  under  which  the  civil  servants  were  then 
known,  for  the  three  great  presidencies  of  Madras,  Bombay, 
and  Bengal,  and  should  embrace  both  liberal  and  Oriental 
studies.  In  practice  this  ambitious  scheme  was  limited  to 
Bengal  writers  and  confined  to  law  and  Oriental  lan- 
guages.^ After  a  preliminary  examination  in  England, 
six  months  to  four  years  were  to  be  spent  at  Fort  William 
College.  With  this  limited  sphere  Fort  William  survived 
until  open  competition  was  introduced  in  1853. 

In  1806  the  directors  of  the  company  decided  to  found 
a  college  in  England,  partly  as  a  substitute  for  Lord 
Wellesley's  college,  partly  as  ancillary.^  This  became  the 
regular  door  to  the  service,  and  by  a  statute  of  1813^  no 
writer  was  allowed  to  proceed  to  India  unless  he  had 
spent  four  terms  at  Haileybury.  The  college  was  a  suc- 
cess from  the  start,  and  its  standards  soon  rose  as  high  as 
that  of  the  great  universities,  though  its  discipline  was 
much  closer  to  that  of  an  English  Public  School.  The  age 
limit  at  admission  was  fixed  at  21,  and  at  23  for  appoint- 
ment to  India.  The  appointments  to  the  college  were,  of 
course,  by  patronage  plus  a  qualifying  entrance  examina- 
tion, and  the  nominees  of  the  time  were  members  of  old 
Anglo-Indian  families,  acquainted  by  tradition  with  the 
life  of  India  and  destined   from  the  cradle  for  the  com- 

'  A.    Lawrence   Lowell,   Colonial  Civil  Service    (New   York,    1900), 
passim. 
*  Ibid.  '  George  IV,  c.  55,  sec.  46. 


5 1  "I,       MACAU  LAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE         ^j 

f>any's  service.  In  1833  when  the  company's  charter 
was  renewed  it  was  provided  that  there  should  be  four 
times  as  many  candidates  as  there  were  vacancies  at  Hailey- 
bury,  but  this  early  attempt  to  introduce  limited  competition 
was  soon  suspended.  Naturally  enough  the  college  suf- 
fered from  the  presence  of  a  number  of  black  sheep,  who 
were  protected  from  dismissal  by  the  directors.  The 
directors,  however,  spared  no  pains  in  attracting  a  dis- 
tinguished group  of  teachers,  and  among  the  faculty  at 
Haileybury  we  find  such  names  as  Malthus,  the  economist, 
Sir  James  Macintosh,  Sir  James  Stephen,  and  Sir  Monier 
Monier-Williams,  the  Sanskrit  scholar,  later  a  professor  at 
Oxford.  The  latter,  in  the  Memorials  of  Old  Haileybury 
says: 

According  to  my  own  individual  experience  as  a  student, 
the  mental  training  at . .  .  old  Haileybury  was  so  varied  and  ex- 
cellent that  nothing  at  all  equal  to  it — at  any  rate  in  the  diver- 
sity of  subjects  which  it  embraced — was  to  be  had  either  at 
the  Universities  or  elsewhere.  ...  I  soon  discovered  that  if 
I  wished  to  rise  above  the  level  of  the  average  student,  I  should 
have  a  task  before  me  compared  to  which  my  previous  work 
at  Oxford  could  only  be  regarded  as  child's  play.^ 

Many  of  the  best  men  from  the  Public  Schools  were  at- 
tracted and  we  need  only  compare  the  intellectual  life  of 
Old  Haileybury,  as  evidenced  by  the  Haileybury  Chronicle 
and  by  the  reminiscences  of  graduates,  to  the  intellectual  life 
of  a  training  college  like  West  Point,  in  order  to  appreciate 
the  directors'  nominees.  On  the  other  hand  we  must  not 
overestimate  them.  The  best  men  were  those  who,  like 
Professor  Monier-Williams,  had  previously  enjoyed  a 
classical  education.  The  average  man  did  not  measure  up 
to  the  highest  standards  of  the  universities. 

1  Memorials  of  Old  Haileybury,  p.  75. 


^2  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [52 

The  college  did  not  fill  all  the  positions  in  India.  The 
patronage  of  the  directors  included  lower  positions  which 
did  not  fall  under  the  Haileybury  regulations.  It  was  to 
such  positions  as  these  that  Sir  George  Trevelyan  probably 
referred  when  he  said : 

In  the  year  1820  all  the  towns  north  of  the  Tweed  together 
contained  fewer  voters  than  are  now  on  the  rolls  of  the  single 
burgh  of  Hawick,  and  all  the  counties  together  contained  fewer 
voters  than  are  now  on  the  register  of  Roxburghshire.  So 
small  a  band  of  electors  was  easily  manipulated  by  a  party 
leader  who  had  the  patronage  of  India  at  his  command.  The 
three  Presidencies  were  flooded  with  the  sons  and  nephews  of 
men  who  were  lucky  enough  to  have  a  seat  in  a  Town  Council, 
or  a  superiority  in  a  rural  district.^ 

In  1833  the  company  lost  its  exclusive  privilege  of  trade, 
and  from  this  time  it  existed  only  as  a  patronage  bureau. 
The  old  Indian  officials  bought  stock  for  the  sake  of  gain- 
ing patronage  for  their  families,  and  gradually  the  cor- 
poration became  closed  to  all  but  these  Anglo-Indian  fami- 
lies. In  1837  Macaulay  succeeded  in  getting  a  reform  bill 
for  competitive  examination  through  Parliament,  but  he 
was  defeated  with  the  aid  of  influential  members  of  both 
houses,  who  had  been  made  directors.  As  Sir  George 
Trevelyan  aptly  puts  it, 

they  were  not  going  to  resign,  without  a  struggle,  the  most 
valuable  patronage  since  the  days  when  the  Roman  senate  sent 
proconsuls  and  propraetors  to  Syria,  Sicily,  and  Egypt.  Back- 
stairs influence  in  Leadenhall  Street  contrived  that  the  clauses 
embodying  Macaulay's  plan  lay  dormant  in  a  pigeonhole  at 
the  Board  of  Control,  and  backstairs  influence  in  Parliament 
at  length  found  an  opportunity  to  procure  their  repeal.^ 

1  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Macaulay  (London,  igog),  p.  113. 
» Ibid.,  p.  587. 


53]       MACAULAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE         53 

Certainly  in  the  Indian  civil  service  it  could  be  argued 
with  much  more  plausibility  than  at  home,  that  the  kind  of 
qualities  in  demand  were  those  which  no  open  competition 
could  insure,  and  that  the  son  of  an  Anglo-Indian  family, 
conversant  from  his  youth  with  Indian  problems  and  taught 
to  look  forward  to  the  life  of  an  Indian  official,  though  un- 
able to  pass  a  difficult  competitive  examination,  was  a  man 
who  would  probably  be  far  more  useful  in  India  than  a 
cloistered  Oxford  scholar,  mechanically  proficient  perhaps 
in  the  classics,  but  totally  unprepared  to  become  a  governor 
or  judge  over  several  millions  of  strange  people  in  a  strange 
country. 

In  1853  the  charter  came  up  again  for  revision,  and 
Parliament  abolished  the  directors'  right  of  nomination 
and  upheld  Macaulay's  plan  for  open  competition. 
Macaulay's  speech  on  this  occasion  was,  as  his  nephew 
justly  says,  the  most  masterly  vindication  of  the  principles 
of  competition  ever  left  unanswered.  There  had  been  talk 
of  giving  the  Governor  General  unlimited  power  of  appoint- 
ing whom  he  chose. 

Tiiere  is  something  plausible  in  the  proposition  that  you 
should  allow  him  to  take  able  men  wherever  he  finds  them. 
But  my  firm  opinion  is,  that  the  day  on  which  the  Civil  Service 
of  India  ceases  to  be  a  closed  service  will  be  the  beginning  of 
an  age  of  jobbing, — the  most  monstrous,  the  most  extensive, 
and  the  most  perilous  system  of  abuse  in  the  distribution  of 
patronage  that  we  have  ever  witnessed.  Every  Governor- 
General  would  take  out  with  him,  or  would  soon  be  followed 
by,  a  crowd  of  nephews,  first  and  second  cousins,  friends,  sons 
of  friends,  and  political  hangers-on ;  while  every  steamer  arriv- 
ing from  the  Red  Sea  would  carry  to  India  some  adventurer 
bearing  with  him  testimonials  from  people  of  influence  in  Eng- 
land. The  Governor-General  would  have  it  in  his  power  to 
distribute  Residences,  Seats  at  the  Council  Board,  Seats  at  the 


54  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [54 

Revenue  Board,  places  of  from  4,000/.  to  6,000/.  a  year,  upon 
men  without  the  least  acquaintance  with  the  character  or  habits 
of  the  natives,  and  with  only  such  knowledge  of  the  language 
as  would  enable  them  to  call  for  another  bottle  of  pale  ale, 
or  desire  their  attendant  to  pull  the  punkah  faster.  In  what 
way  could  you  put  a  check  on  such  proceedings?  Would  you, 
the  House  of  Commons,  control  them?  Have  you  been  so 
successful  in  extirpating  nepotism  at  your  own  door,  and  in 
excluding  all  abuses  from  Whitehall  and  Somerset  House, 
that  you  should  fancy  that  you  could  establish  purity  in  coun- 
tries the  situation  of  which  you  do  not  know,  and  the  names 
of  which  you  cannot  pronounce?  I  believe  most  fully  that, 
instead  of  purity  resulting  from  that  arrangement  to  India, 
England  itself  would  soon  be  tainted;  and  that  before  long, 
when  a  son  or  brother  of  some  active  member  of  this  House 
went  out  to  Calcutta,  carrying  with  him  a  letter  of  recommen- 
dation from  the  Prime  Minister  to  the  Governor-General,  that 
letter  would  really  be  a  Bill  of  Exchange,  drawn  on  the  reve- 
nues of  India  for  value  received  in  Parliamentary  support  in 
this  House. 

We  arc  not  without  experience  on  this  point.  We  have 
only  to  look  back  to  those  shameful  and  lamentable  years 
which  followed  the  first  establishment  of  our  power  in  Bengal. 
If  you  turn  to  any  poet,  satirist,  or  essayist  of  those  times, 
you  may  see  in  what  manner  that  system  of  appointment 
operated.^ 

Macaulay  then  referred  to  Sir  Charles  Wood's  proposal 
that  admissions  to  the  civil  service  of  India  should  be 
distributed  according  to  the  result  of  an  open  competitive 
examination.  He  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  support 
which  that  proposal  had  received  from  the  present  Earl 
of  Derby,  and  the  surprise  and  disappointment  which  had 
been  aroused  in  his  mind  by  the  nature  of  Lord  Ellen- 
borough's  opposition  to  it. 

1  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Macaulay,  pp.  588-590. 


25]       MACAULAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE         55 

If  I  understand  the  opinions  imputed  to  that  noble  Lord, 
he  thinks  that  the  proficiency  of  a  young  man  in  those  pursuits 
which  constitute  a  hberal  education  is  not  only  no  indication 
that  he  is  likely  to  make  a  figure  in  after  life,  but  that  it  posi- 
tively raises  a  presumption  that  he  will  be  passed  by  those 
whom  he  overcame  in  these  early  contests.    I  understand  that 
the  noble  Lord  holds  that  young  men  who  gain  distinction  in 
such  pursuits  are  likely  to  turn  out  dullards,  utterly  unfit  for 
an  active  career ;  and  I  am  not  sure  that  the  noble  Lord  did 
not  say  that  it  would  be  wiser  to  make  boxing  or  cricket  a  test 
of  fitness  than  a  liberal  education.     It  seems  to  me  that  there 
never  was  a  fact  proved  by  a  larger  mass  of  evidence,  or  a 
more  unvaried  experience  than  this; — that  men,  who  distin- 
guish themselves  in  their  youth  above  their  contemporaries, 
almost  always  keep  to  the  end  of  their  lives  the  start  which 
they  have  gained.    This  experience  is  so  vast  that  I  should  as 
soon  expect  to  hear  any  one  question  it,  as  to  hear  it  denied 
that  arsenic  is  poison   or  that  brandy  is  intoxicating.     Take 
down  in  any  library  the  Cambridge  Calendar.    There  you  have 
the  list  of  honours  for  a  hundred  years.     Look  at  the  hst  of 
wranglers  and  of  junior  optimes ;  and  I  will  venture  to  say 
that,  for  one  man  who  has  in  after  life  distinguished  himself 
among  the  junior  optimes,  you  will  find  twenty  among  the 
wranglers.     Take  the  Oxford  Calendar,  and  compare  the  list 
of  first-class  men  with  an  equal  number  of  men  in  the  third 
class.     Is  not  our  history  full  of  instances  which  prove  this 
fact?    Look  at  the  Church,  or  the  Bar.     Look  at  Parliament, 
from  the  time  that  Parliamentary  government  began  in  this 
country ;— from  the  days  of  Montague  and  St.  John  to  those 
of  Canning  and  Peel.     Look  to  India.     The  ablest  man  who 
ever  governed  India  was  Warren  Hastings,  and  was  he  not 
in  the  first  rank  at  Westminster?     The  ablest  civil  servant  I 
ever  knew  in  India  was  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  and  was  he  not 
of  the  first  standing  at  Eton?    The  most  eminent  member  of 
the  aristocracy  who  ever  governed  India  was  Lord  Wellesley. 
What  was  his  Eton  reputation?    What  was  his  Oxford  repu- 
tation? 


56  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [56 

A  commission  was  appointed,  of  which  Macaulay, 
Jowett,  the  master  of  Balliol,  and  J.  G.  Shaw  Lefevre,  later 
a  civil  service  commissioner,  were  the  most  prominent 
members.     The  report  was  evidently  written  by  Macaulay. 

It  is  difficult,  [says  the  report]  to  estimate  the  effect 
which  the  prospective  prizes  so  numerous  and  so  at- 
tractive will  produce.  ...  At  Trinity  College,  .  .  .  Cam- 
bridge, about  four  fellowships  are  given  annually  by 
competition.  These  fellowships  can  be  held  only  on  con- 
dition of  celibacy,  and  the  income  ...  is  a  very  moderate  one 
for  a  single  man.  It  is  notorious  that  the  examinations 
for  Trinity  fellowships  have,  directly  or  indirectly,  done  much 
to  give  a  direction  to  the  studies  of  Cambridge  and  of  all  the 
numerous  schools  which  are  the  feeders  of  Cambridge.  What, 
then,  is  likely  to  be  the  effect  of  a  competition  for  prizes  which 
will  be  ten  times  as  numerous  as  the  Trinity  fellowships,  and 
of  which  each  will  be  more  valuable  than  a  Trinity  fellowship? 
We  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  examination .  . .  will  produce 
an  effect  which  will  be  felt  in  every  seat  of  learning  through- 
out the  realm  .  .  .  The  number  of  candidates  will  doubtless  be 
much  greater  than  the  number  of  vacancies.  It  will  not  sur- 
prise us  if  the  ordinary  number  examined  should  be  three  or 
four  hundred.  The  great  majority,  and  among  them  many 
young  men  of  excellent  abilities  and  laudable  industry,  must  be 
unsuccessful.  If,  therefore,  branches  of  knowledge  specially 
Oriental  should  be  among  the  subjects  of  examination,  it  is 
probable  that  a  considerable  number  of  the  most  hopeful  youths 
in  the  country  will  be  induced  to  waste  much  time,  at  that 
period  of  life  at  which  time  is  most  precious,  in  studies  which 
will  never,  in  any  conceivable  case  be  of  the  smallest  use  to 
them.  We  think  it  most  desirable  that  the  examination  should 
be  of  such  a  nature  that  no  candidate  who  may  fail  shall,  to 
whatever  calling  he  may  betake  himself,  have  any  reason  to 
regret  the  time  and  labour  which  he  spent  in  preparing  him- 
self to  be  examined.  .  .  .  We  believe  that  men  who  have 
been  engaged,  up  to  one  or  two  and  twenty,  in  studies  which 


57]       MACAULAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE         57 

have  no  immediate  connexion  with  the  business  of  any  pro- 
fession, and  of  which  the  effect  is  merely  to  open,  to  invigor- 
ate, and  to  enrich  the  mind,  will  generally  be  found,  in  the 
business  of  every  profession,  superior  to  men  who  have,  at 
eighteen  or  nineteen,  devoted  themselves  to  the  special  studies 
of  their  calling.  .  .  .  Indeed,  early  superiority  in  litera- 
ture and  science  generally  indicates  the  existence  of  some 
qualities  which  are  securities  against  vice  —  industry,  self- 
denial,  a  taste  for  pleasures  not  sensual,  a  laudable  desire  of 
honorable  distinction,  a  still  more  laudable  desire  to  obtain  the 
approbation  of  friends  and  relations.  We,  therefore,  think 
that  the  intellectual  test  about  to  be  established  will  be  found 
in  practice  to  be  also  the  best  moral  test  that  can  be  devised.^ 

Macaulay's  plan  was  briefly  this :  The  probationers 
for  the  Indian  civil  service  were  to  be  selected  by 
open  competition  in  liberal  studies  of  the  character  and 
standard  of  studies  at  British  universities.  As  many  as 
possible  should  be  men  who  had  taken  their  B.A.  at  Ox- 
ford or  Cambridge.  The  minimum  age  was  fixed  at  18. 
but  Macaulay  hoped  that  the  difficulty  of  the  tests  would 
keep  out  almost  every  candidate  below^  21.  The  examin- 
ations should  include  classics,  mathematics,  French,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  natural  sciences,  moral  sciences  and  the  liter- 
ary languages  of  India,  Sanskrit  and  Persian.  It  was  not 
expected  that  any  one  would  take  all  these  subjects,  but  the 
exigencies  of  competition  would  compel  a  candidate  to 
take  as  many  as  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  Macaulay 
laid  emphasis  on  the  precaution  that  smattering  and  super- 
ficial knowledge  of  a  number  of  subjects  should  have  no 
consideration  at  all,  as  against  intimate  and  thorough 
knowledge  of  a  few^  subjects.  Macaulay  suggested  a  ten- 
tative scheme  of  marks,  w^hich  is  ver\^  noteworthy,  because 
it  has  become  the  model  for  all  higher  civil  service  examin- 
ations in  England :  " 

1  Lowell,  Colonial  Civil  Service,  pp.  80-82.  "  Ibid.,  p.  87. 


58  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [58 

Required. 
English  Language  and  Literature — 

Composition     500 

History    500 

General  Litercture    500 

1500 
Optional. 

Greek     750 

Latin    750 

French     375 

German    375 

Italian    375 

Mathematics — Pure    and    Mixed    1000 

Natural   Sciences   500 

Moral  Sciences  500 

Sanskrit    375 

Arabic    375 

CS75 

Macaulay  expressed  the  opinion  that  no  candidate  would 
attain  more  than  half  of  the  total  number  of  points.  The 
ablest  scholars  available  should  be  employed  to  mark  the 
papers. 

The  successful  candidates,  a  number  determined  by  the 
needs  of  the  service,  were  then  to  become  probationers, 
for  a  period  not  exceeding  two  years.  During  their  term 
of  probation  their  studies  should  be  peculiarly  Indian — 
namely  history,  geography  and  government  of  India,  juris- 
prudence, finance  and  political  economy,  and  the  vernacu- 
lar language  of  the  province  to  which  they  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  lot.  Attendance  at  the  courts  in  London  was 
urged.  The  final  examinations  in  all  these  subjects  could 
be  taken  at  the  end  of  one  or  two  years  as  the  candidate 
preferred,  and  the  ranking  in  the  final  examinations  should 
determine  seniority  in  the  service. 

Macaulay  evidently  did  not  care  to  keep  up  Haileybury, 
His  plan  swept  away  its  undergraduate  instruction.     He 


^g]      MACAU  LAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE         59 

would  have  preferred  to  do  away  with  the  college  entirely; 
but,  as  it  seemed  that  the  college  was  to  be  retained. 
Macaulay  recommended  that  it  should  exist  as  a  graduate 
school  in  Indian  subjects  for  probationers,  with  a  more 
eminent  faculty  and  no  undergraduate  discipline.  The 
closing  sentence  of  the  report  is  significant:  "We  must 
leave  it  to  the  Board  of  Control  to  discover  whether  any 
plan  can  be  devised  by  which  such  a  training  can  be  made 
compatible  with  residence  at  Haileybury." 

The  case  for  open  competition  and  liberal  education  had 
been  fairly  stated,  but  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  presumed 
that  these  were  the  factors  which  terminated  the  patronage 
of  the  directors  and  closed  the  doors  of  Old  Haileybury. 
The  fact  was  that  the  directors'  patronage  was  very  un- 
popular. An  exclusive  few  were  interested  in  the  spoils 
of  India,  not  the  varying  and  powerful  multitude  who, 
we  shall  see,  were  bitterly  opposed  to  introducing  the  prin- 
ciples of  open  competition  at  home,  though  they  were  per- 
fectly willing  to  see  them  applied  to  India.  Haileybury 
College  had  been  so  closely  associated  in  the  minds  of  the 
public  with  the  directors'  patronage  that  the  two  fell  to- 
gether.^ 

Mr.  Lowell  seems  to  think  that  it  never  occurred  to 
Macaulay  that  open  competition  might  have  been  introduced 
for  entrance  to  Haileybury,  and  that  the  undergraduate 
college  which  had  trained  the  men  who  ruled  India  for 
fifty  years  might  thus  have  been  maintained.  Judging  by 
Macaulay's  speeches  and  by  the  report,  there  seems  little 
reason  to  believe  that  Macaulay  was  guilty  of  such  stupid- 
ity. Suppose  open  competition  had  been  introduced  for 
entrance  to  Haileybury— it  would  have  been  competition 
amongst  boys  of  16  or  18.     And  in  what  subjects?     Cer- 

1  Lowell,  Colonial  Civil  Service,  p.  14. 


6o  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [60 

tainly  judging  by  the  report,  technical  or  Indian  subjects 
would  not  have  been  favored.  Therefore,  in  academic 
subjects.  Now  what  test  does  an  academic  education, 
based  on  the  Public  School  curriculum,  afford  that  you 
will  get  not  the  best  but  even  average  boys  at  the  beginning? 
A  competition  amongst  schoolboys,  in  schoolboy  subjects, 
would  afford  little  proof  of  real  ability  and  character  or  of 
adaptability  to  Indian  official  life  and,  once  at  Haileybury, 
the  difficulty  of  getting  rid  of  an  unsuitable  candidate  would 
be  enormous.  What  could  such  a  boy  do  if  he  failed  in 
the  final  examinations  or  were  refused  by  the  government 
after  several  years  at  Haileybury?  No  doubt  there  are 
military  schools  recruited  by  open  competition  and  produc- 
ing excellent  officers ;  but  military  officials  can  hardly  be 
trained  otherwise.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Macaulay  weighed  the  Haileybury  idea  and  found  it  want- 
ing. There  would  have  been  little  sense  in  picking  boys  at 
16  or  18,  with  small  ground  for  choice  and  by  no  real 
competition,  giving  them  an  academic  education  at  Hailey- 
bury which  they  could  better  obtain  at  the  universities 
and  an  oriental  education  in  Indian  languages,  laws,  and 
government  which  the  universities  could  supply  with  the 
assistance  of  a  small  annual  grant  from  the  India  Office, 
and  sending  them  to  India  as  a  clique  without  the  ex- 
perience of  life  and  broadness  of  mind  which  they  might 
have  obtained  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge. 

Discussion  as  to  the  comparative  efficiency  of  the  Old 
Haileyburians  and  their  open  competition  successors, 
known  as  the  "Competition  Wallahs,"  raged  for  years  after 
the  fall  of  Haileybury.  Macaulay's  nephew  and  biogra- 
pher ^  contributed  to  it  a  series  of  articles  criticizing  the 
Competition   Wallah.      No   doubt   the   Haileyburians   had 

1  Trevelyan,  The  Competition  IVallah  (London,  1866),  passim. 


6i]       MACAULAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE        6l 

much  more  in  their  favor  than  Macaulay  saw;  but  as  the 
problems  of  governing  India  have  become  more  refined 
if  less  acute,  demanding  on  the  part  of  civil  servants  the 
subtlest  mental  adjustments,  the  superior  mental  equipment 
and  experience  of  the  Competition  Wallahs  must  compen- 
sate for  the  absence  of  esprit  de  corps  which  character- 
ized the  Anglo-Indians  who  had  the  common  bond  of  edu- 
cation at  Haileybury. 

Macaulay  was  sincere  enough  in  his  championship  of 
high  intellectual  attainments  as  a  qualification  for  ruling 
in  India.  He  knew  that  a  university  career  was  well  cal- 
culated to  prepare  a  young  collector  for  the  ceaseless 
dilemma,  the  paradoxes  and  the  restless  mental  question- 
ings and  compromises  which  are  part  of  the  white  man's 
burden  in  India.  Macaulay  knew  the  public  to  whom  he 
was  opening  the  examinations ;  he  knew  perfectly  well  that 
open  competition  did  not  involve  attracting  the  ill-bred  and 
ill-balanced  middle  class  into  the  Indian  service.  Macau- 
lay meant  to  open  the  competition  to  undergraduates  of  the 
great  universities,  and  he  expected  that  in  an  open  com- 
petition with  a  high  standard  based  on  the  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  honor  schools,  Oxford  and  Cambridge  would 
more  than  hold  their  own.  The  scheme  was  not  quite  as 
democratic  as  it  looked.  Like  the  English  cabinet  and  the 
English  aristocracy,  the  Indian  civil  service  was  to  be 
opened  to  gentlemen  who  had  inherited  breeding  and  cul- 
ture, and  to  those  of  the  middle  class  who  had  made  them- 
selves gentlemen  by  acquiring  the  same  breeding  and 
culture. 

Macaulay's  logic  was  borne  out  by  the  events.  Instead 
of  following  his  plan,  the  maximum  age  of  entrance  into 
the  Indian  civil  service  was  lowered  to  22  and  then  to  21. 
Led  by  Sir  Henry  Maine,  the  famous  legal  theorist  and 
Indian  official,  the  disciples  of  specialization,  who  believed 


62  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [62 

that  candidates  should  be  caught  young  and  then  trained 
in  studies  peculiarly  suited  to  the  Indian  service,  succeeded 
in  forcing  Lord  Salisbury  to  lower  the  maximum  age  to  19. 
We  can  see  how  shrewd  was  Macaulay's  fear  of  special- 
ized or  technical  examinations  for  the  Indian  civil  ser- 
vice if  we  consider  the  modern  German  and  Prussian 
civil  services.  Had  Macaulay  introduced  oriental  lan- 
guages or  any  specialized  Indian  studies  into  the  first  and 
all-important  competition,  those  who  failed  would  have 
been  in  a  desperate  condition,  and  the  only  alternative  to 
casting  them  on  the  world,  unfit  for  any  profession,  would 
have  been  to  lower  the  examination  standard  so  that  few 
could  fail,  and  thus  lose  all  the  benefits  of  competition. 
This  alternative  has  been  conspicuous  in  the  Prussian  civil 
service  where  the  Staats  or  Rcgierungsrefcrendar,  who  had 
undergone  a  peculiar  practical  and  theoretical  training  in 
Staatsivissenchaft  and  Staatsbkonomie,  must  be  conspicu- 
ously incapable  to  fail  in  the  ultimate  examinations  when 
family  and  political  pressure  are  added  to  the  scruples  of 
the  examiners  against  turning  a  man  of  28  loose  in  the 
world  without  a  vocation. 

As  a  result  of  thus  lowering  the  age  of  entrance  into  the 
Indian  civil  service,  the  efficiency,  if  not  the  personnel  of  the 
service,  fell  noticeably.  Finally  Macaulay's  proposed  age 
limit  was  reinstated,  and  the  regulations  of  a  general  uni- 
versity education  were  restored.  The  question  of  admit- 
ting natives  to  the  covenanted  service  comes  up  now  and 
again,  but  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  acute.  Even  with 
the  present  age  limit,  few  care  to  prepare  themselves  for 
examination  and  make  the  trip  to  England.  The  simple  and 
natural  expedient  of  holding  examinations  simultaneously 
in  India  and  England,  which  has  fortunately  been  voted 
down  thus  far,  has  come  before  a  commission  this  year, 
along  with  other  Indian  civil  service  problems.     It  seems 


S^]      MACAULAY  AND  THE  INDIAN  CIVIL  SERVICE        63 

palpable,  however,  that  natives  are  not  wanted  in  the 
covenanted  Indian  service.  There  are  as  many  places 
open  to  them  now  as  they  are  reasonably  capable  of  filling 
without  endangering  the  British  rule  or  prestige. 

Macaulay's  wisdom  has  thus  been  affirmed.  The  recent 
history  of  the  Indian  civil  service  proves  that  the  best  men 
are  those  who  have  had  the  highest  general  academic  educa- 
tion which  England  can  afford,  and  that  training  in  special 
subjects  is  not  of  the  first  importance  and  may  be  acquired 
by  probationers  in  a  year  with  comparative  ease.  Recently 
some  of  the  subjects  of  examination  were  changed,  and 
the  standard  was  raised.  Oxford  standards  were  followed 
for  classics  and  philosophy,  Cambridge  standards  for  ma- 
thematics and  the  natural  sciences.  In  1895  the  highest 
clerkships  in  the  Home  civil  service  and  in  1896  the  cadet- 
ships  in  the  Far  East  were  consolidated  with  the  Indian 
civil  service  for  purposes  of  examination.  A  more  de- 
tailed description  of  this  consolidated  examination  must  be 
reserved  for  a  later  chapter.^  How  far  in  practice  this 
examination  may  be  said  to  be  open  and  public  is  hard  to 
say.  In  the  191 1  competition  Oxford  provided  51  and 
Cambridge  26  of  the  93  successful  candidates  for  the  three 
services.  Undoubtedly  these  results  are  not  due  entirely 
to  the  superior  education  at  the  two  great  universities. 
We  must  remember  that  the  examinations  are  based  on  the 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  "  Schools  ",  that  these  are  the  re- 
cognized avenues  into  the  services,  that  the  newer  uni- 
versities give  a  practical  rather  than  an  academic  edu- 
cation. When  the  question  of  democracy  comes  before 
the  present  Royal  Commission,  we  shall  probably  read  many 
startling  denunciations  and  all  the  threats  of  radical 
changes — and  in  the  end,  when  the  report  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  Parliament,  the  great  reorganization  will  dwindle 

1  Cf.  Appendix  C. 


64  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [64 

to  a  few  comparatively  small  changes,  and  the  personnel 
will  remain  much  as  before.  If  at  some  time  in  the  future 
the  University  of  London  should  provide  fifty  successful 
candidates,  ambitious  and  capable  young  men  of  the  lower 
classes,  who  might  well  be  unsuited  to  rule  in  India,  the 
present  system  of  open  competition  would  probably  be  re- 
modeled to  suit  the  "  changing  needs  of  the  service,"  and 
we  should  have  a  new  kind  of  open  competition  calculated 
to  attract  the  "  right  class  of  young  men  ".  Even  at  pres- 
ent the  scheme  is  not  undemocratic.  The  majority  of  un- 
dergraduates at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  are  drawn  from 
the  bourgeoisie ;  moreover,  most  of  the  successful  candidates 
are  "  scholars  " — that  is,  men  of  small  means  who  have 
won  scholarships  at  the  universities ;  and  the  aristocrats 
in  point  of  wealth  or  social  position  are  not  likely  to  choose 
the  rigors  of  an  Indian  life  in  preference  to  a  comfortable 
career  at  home. 

However  the  choice  may  be  safeguarded,  it  remains  an 
extraordinary  fact  that  the  twelve  hundred  men  who  are 
employed  in  the  civil  government  of  some  230  million  peo- 
ple and  in  the  partial  government  of  some  80  million  more,* 
whose  peculiar  fitness  for  Indian  life  we  should  suppose 
would  be  subjected  to  the  minutest  scrutiny,  are  selected 
simply  for  their  proficiency  in  a  certain  number  of  general 
academic  studies,  and  their  special  knowledge  of  Greek 
philosophy,  chemistry,  or  quaternions.^ 

*  Gazetteer  of  India,  vol.  iv,  p.  42. 

*  There  is  indeed  one  severe  physical  test  imposed — a  riding  test, 
which  has  unseated  not  a  few  of  the  highest  probationers. 

For  a  succinct  and  lucid  description  of  the  Indian  civil  service  of 
to-day,  written  for  Canadians,  see  Professor  W.  L.  Grant's  article,  on 
"  British  Experience  with  Tropical  Colonization,"  in  the  Queen's  Quar- 
terly Magazine,  1912. 


CHAPTER  III 
The  Beginning  of  Reform 

"  The  proposal  to  select  candidates  for  the  Civil  Service  by 
a  competitive  examination  appears  to  me  to  be  one  of  those 
great  public  improvements  the  adoption  of  which  would  form 
an  era  in  history." — John  Stuart  Mill. 

"  Most  of  his  [Trevelyan's]  correspondents  thought  that  the 
idea  was  hopelessly  impracticable.  It  seemed  like  the  intrusion 
into  the  world  of  politics  of  a  scheme  of  cause  and  effect  de- 
rived from  another  universe — as  if  one  should  propose  to  the 
Stock  Exchange  that  the  day's  prices  should  be  fixed  by  prayer 
and  casting  of  lots." — Wallas,  Human  Nature  in  Politics. 


In  1853  the  report  of  the  select  committee  appeared. 
Gladstone  had  been  bold  in  his  choice  of  Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan  and  Sir  Stafford  Northcote.  Trevelyan  was  a 
graduate  of  Haileybury  and,  once  in  India,  his  rise  in  the 
company's  service  had  been  remarkable.  He  returned  to 
England  to  become  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
Sir  Stafford  Northcote  was  a  distinguished  young  Oxonian, 
formerly  private  secretary  to  Gladstone  and  Vice-President 
of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Later  he  became  a  Conservative, 
but  accepted  Gladstone's  invitation  to  report  on  the  civil 
service.  Both  members  of  the  committee  were  ardent 
reformers.^     Trevelyan  had  been  an  enthusiastic  supporter 

'  Trollope  has  represented  Trevelyan  as  a  pharisaical,  jealous  and 
conceited  bureaucrat,  who  had  become  a  reformer  by  accident.  "Great 
changes  had  been  going  on  at  the  Weights  and  Measures,  or  rather  it 
might  be  more  proper  to  say  that  great  changes  were  now  in  progress. 
From  that  moment  in  which  it  had  been  hinted  to  Mr.  Hardlines  that 
65]  65 


66  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [66 

of  open  competition  in  the  Indian  civil  service,  and  had 
looked  over  Macaulay's  shoulder  as  the  latter  wrote  his 
famous  plea  for  academic  distinction  as  a  test  of  fitness 

he  must  relax  the  rigor  of  his  examinations,  he  had  pondered  deeply 
over  the  matter.  Hitherto  he  had  confined  his  efforts  to  his  own 
office,  and  so  far  from  feeling  personally  anxious  for  the  amelioration 
of  the  civil  service  generally,  had  derived  no  inconsiderable  share  of 
his  happiness  from  the  knowledge  that  there  were  such  sinks  of  in- 
iquity as  the  Internal  Navigation.  To  be  widely  different  from  others, 
was  Mr.  Hardlines'  glory.  He  was  perhaps  something  of  a  civil  ser- 
vice Pharisee,  and  wore  on  his  forehead  a  broad  phylactery,  stamped 
with  the  mark  of  Crown  property.  He  thanked  God  that  he  was  not 
like  those  publicans  at  Somerset  House,  and  took  glory  to  himself  in 
paying  tithes  of  official  cumin.  But  now  he  was  driven  to  a  wider 
range.  Those  higher  Pharisees  who  were  above  him  in  his  ov/n  Phari- 
saical establishment,  had  interfered  with  the  austerity  of  his  worship. 
He  could  not  turn  against  them  there,  on  their  own  ground. 

"  He,  of  all  men,  could  not  be  disobedient  to  official  orders.  But  if 
he  could  promote  a  movement  beyond  the  walls  of  the  Weights  and 
Measures;  if  he  could  make  Pharisees  of  those  benighted  publicans  in 
the  Strand;  if  he  could  introduce  conic  sections  into  the  Custom 
House,  and  political  economy  into  the  Post  Office;  if,  by  any  effort  of 
his,  the  Foreign  Office  clerks  could  be  forced  to  attend  punctually  at 
ten;  and  that  wretched  saunterer,  whom  five  days  a  week  he  saw 
lounging  into  the  Council  Office — if  he  could  be  made  to  mend  his 
pace,  what  a  wide  field  for  his  ambition  would  Mr.  Hardlines  then 
have  found. 

"Great  ideas  opened  themselves  to  his  mind  as  he  walked  to  and  from 
his  office  daily.  What  if  he  could  become  the  parent  of  a  totally  dif- 
ferent order  of  things!  What  if  the  Civil  Service,  through  his  instru- 
mentality, should  become  the  nucleus  of  the  best  intellectual  diligence 
in  the  country,  instead  of  being  a  byword  for  sloth  and  ignorance! 
Mr.  Hardlines  meditated  deeply  on  this,  and,  as  he  did  so,  it  became 
observed  on  all  sides  that  he  was  an  altered  man  as  regarded  his 
solicitude  for  the  Weights  and  Measures.  One  or  two  lads  crept  in, 
by  no  means  conspicuous  for  their  attainments  in  abstract  science; 
young  men,  too,  were  observed  to  leave  not  much  after  four  o'clock, 
without  calling  down  on  themselves  Mr.  Hardlines'  usual  sarcasm. 
Some  said  he  was  growing  old,  others  that  he  was  broken-hearted. 
But  Mr.  Hardlines  was  not  old,  nor  broken  in  heart  or  body.  He  was 
thinking  of  higher  things  than  the  Weights  and  Measures,  and  at  last 
he  published  a  pamphlet." 


6;]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  5- 

to  serve  the  government.  Northcote  was  a  typical  product 
of  Eton  and  of  Balliol  College,  firmly  convinced  of  the 
superiority  of  such  an  education  to  any  other  as  a  pre- 
paration for  Parliament  or  the  public  services.  He  was, 
like  Gladstone,  shrewdly  aware  that  in  an  examination 
based  on  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  schools,  the  upper 
class  would  more  than  hold  its  own :  but  like  Macaulay.  he 
seems  to  have  had  the  idea  that  a  man  who  was  distin- 
guished in  the  humaner  letters  would  probably  be  capable 
and  a  gentleman,  no  matter  what  his  antecedents  or  who 
his  sponsors.  Unlike  the  usual  reports  which  follow  and 
are  based  upon  numberless  pages  of  tedious  and  often  con- 
flicting testimony,  this  report  preceded  official  testimony 
and  discussion  and  thus  avoided  a  compromise  without 
any  strong  principle. 

The  committee  complained  that  the  civil  service  did  not 
attract  the  ablest  men. 

It  would  be  natural  to  expect  that  so  important  a  profes- 
sion would  attract  into  its  ranks  the  ablest  and  most  ambitious 
of  the  youth  of  the  country;  that  the  keenest  emulation  would 
prevail  among  those  who  had  entered  it ;  and  that  such  as  were 
endowed  with  superior  qualifications  would  rapidly  rise  to  dis- 
tinction and  public  eminence.  Such,  however,  is  by  no  means 
the  case.  Admission  into  the  Civil  Service  is  indeed  eagerly 
sought  after,  but  it  is  for  the  unambitious,  and  the  indolent  or 
incapable,  that  it  is  chiefly  desired.  Those  whose  abilities  do 
not  warrant  an  expectation  that  they  will  succeed  in  the  open 
professions,  where  they  must  encounter  the  competition  of 
their  contemporaries,  and  those  whom  indolence  of  tempera- 
ment or  physical  infirmities  unfit  for  active  exertions,  are  placed 
in  the  Civil  Service,  where  they  may  obtain  .an  honourable  live- 
lihood with  little  labor,  and  widi  no  risk;  where  their  success 
depends  upon  their  simply  avoiding  any  flagrant  misconduct, 
and  attending  with  moderate  regularity  to  their  routine  duties ; 


68  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [f38 

and  in  which  they  are  secured  against  the  ordinary  conse- 
quences of  old  age,  or  faihng  health,  by  an  arrangement  which 
provides  them  with  means  of  supporting  themselves  after  they 
have  become  incapacitated.^ 

The  committee  w^ent  on  to  discuss  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  attracting  able  young  men  into  the  service, 
and  mentioned  a  number  of  obstacles,  some  more  theoreti- 
cal than  practical,  and  some  quite  inevitable — the  youth  of 
entrants,  the  absence  or  ineffectiveness  of  qualifying  ex- 
amination, routine  work  which  deadens  ambition  and  use- 
fulness, promotion  by  seniority  and  the  feeling  of  security 
engendered  by  the  certainty  that  all  will  rise  together,  the 
fact  that  strangers  from  outside  the  service  are  often 
necessarily  appointed  to  higher  posts,  thus  adding  to  the 
grievances  of  the  really  ambitious  clerks,  the  fragmentary 
character  of  the  service  which  restricts  promotions  to  the 
one  department  which  the  aspirant  first  entered.  To  meet 
these  difficulties  Northcote  and  Trevelyan  laid  down  some 
general  principles  for  attracting  the  best  men.  They  zvonld 
attract  the  ablest  men  by  a  competitive  examination  open 
to  all  classes,  conducted  by  an  independent  central  board.^ 
They  favored  training  young  men  rather  than  appointing 
old  ones  from  other  professions,  that  is,  training  them 
so  that  they  might  be  eligible  for  higher  administrative 
positions.  For  the  superior  situations  endeavors  should 
be  made  to  secure  the  services  of  the  most  promising  young 

^Parliamentary  Papers,  1854-5,  vol.  xx,  p.  450;  hereinafter  referred 
to  as  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5. 

»  "  In  the  examinations  which  we  have  recommended,  we  consider 
that  the  right  of  competing  should  be  open  to  all  persons  of  a  given 
age."  "These  examinations  cannot  be  conducted  in  an  effective  and 
consistent  manner  throughout  the  Service  while  it  is  left  to  toch  de- 
partment to  determine  the  nature  of  the  examination  and  to  examine 
the  candidates."    Cf.  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  PP-  409- 13- 


6g]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  6g 

men  of  the  day  by  a  competing  examination  on  a  level  zvith 
the  highest  description  of  education  in  the  country.  It 
would  be  impossible,  the  committee  thought,  to  impose 
upon  each  candidate  for  a  clerkship  the  necessity  of  pass- 
ing an  examination  equal  to  that  of  the  first  class  meii  of 
universities;  but  if  on  the  occurrence  of  a  vacancy  a  num- 
ber of  candidates  presented  themselves,  of  whom  some 
could  pass  such  an  examination,  there  was  no  reason  why 
the  public  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  such  a  man's  ser- 
vices, in  preference  to  those  of  a  person  of  inferior  merit 

Two  essential  features  are  distinguishable  in  this  report 
'—open  competition  and  an  academic  examination  of  uni- 
versity standard,  wherever  there  are  a  sufficient  number 
of  candidates  of  university  education  to  warrant  it.  Ob- 
viously the  committee  had  in  mind  something  more  than 
a  vague  idea  of  waiting  for  B.A's.  to  apply  for  clerksh'ps. 
The  civil  service  posts  should  be  graded  like  the  Indian 
civil  service;  there  should  be  two  distinct  divisions  of 
clerks — the  higher  division  to  consist  of  university  men  to 
do  the  intellectual  work  of  the  office  and  destined  for  its 
highest  posts,  the  lower  to  consist  of  clerks  of  ordinary 
education  to  do  the  lower  and  more  mechanical  work,  and 
to  rise  only  in  exceptional  instances  above  clerical  work. 
Great  emphasis  was  laid  on  this  distinction  between  intel- 
lectual and  mechanical  labor.  Examinations  for  the  higher 
positions  should  be  held  at  London,  but  for  the  lower  ap- 
pointments, in  several  different  localities  so  as  to  exclude  no 
one.  The  age  of  admission  to  superior  appointments 
should  be  19  to  25 ;  to  inferior  posts,  17  to  21. 

The  committee  also  recommended  examinations  so  as  to 
secure  special  attainments  for  particular  branches,  and 
periodical  competition  rather  than  competition  for  specific 
appointments.  Successful  candidates  could  be  distributed 
among  the  various  offices  by  the  choice  of  heads  or  on 


70  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [70 

recommendation  of  examiners.  Probation  should  be  made 
universal.  In  the  extensive  range  of  examination  subjects 
recommended — history,  jurisprudence,  political  economy, 
modern  languages,  besides  classics  and  mathematics — we 
see  again  the  influence  of  Macaulay's  Indian  civil  service 
plan  and  of  the  university  idea.  The  committee  re- 
commended a  proper  system  of  transfer  within  offices, 
so  that  a  clerk  might  be  made  master  of  the  whole  routine; 
also  the  grading  of  all  offices,  so  as  to  break  down  the 
barriers  between  different  departments  and  encourage  the 
free  flow  of  promotion  throughout  the  whole  civil  service.y 
Promotion  should  be  by  merit,  three  or  four  names  to  be 
submitted  by  the  immediate  superior  to  the  secretary  and 
by  the  secretary  to  the  head  of  an  office.  A  book  of  pro- 
motion record  should  be  kept  for  reference.  They  rec- 
ommended an  annual  increment  and  a  consistent  pension 
system. 

As  an  appendix  to  the  report,  the  committee  published 
a  letter  from  Benjamin  Jowett  in  which  the  famous  master 
of  Balliol  College  sketched  his  ideal  of  a  civil  seivice 
based  on  university  education.  The  indispensable  require- 
ments for  all  clerks  must  be  arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  Eng- 
lish composition  and  writing.  For  the  higher  class  of 
clerks  the  requirements  should  include  the  best  elements 
of  English  education,  classics,  philosophy,  law,  physical 
sciences,  foreign  languages,  etc.  No  theory  of  education 
should  be  enforced,  "  but  a  test  should  be  made  of  what 
a  man  knows,  not  of  what  we  think  he  ought  to  know," 
i.  e.,  the  examiners  should  allow  men  to  compete  in  the 
subjects  in  which  they  had  specialized  at  the  universities. 
Four  "  schools  "  were  to  be  founded  to  test  special  require- 

'  This  was,  as  we  shall  see,  the  most  visionary  of  the  committee's 
proposals,  and  the  least  workable. 


71  ]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  7 1 

ments.  wider  groups  than  the  Oxford  "  School,"  or  the 
Cambridge  "Tripos",  but  based  on  them — (i)  classics; 
(2)  mathematics  and  natural  sciences:  (3)  political 
economy,  law,  and  moral  philosophy:  (4)  modern  lan- 
guages, history,  and  international  law.  English  composi- 
tion should  be  a  large  element  in  all  examinations.  Each 
candidate  for  the  higher  clerkships  should  be  required  to 
take  two  of  the  Jowett  "  schools,"  the  third  being  required 
from  candidates  for  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Treasury,  the 
fourth  from  aspirants  to  the  Foreign  Office.  A  certain 
number  of  appointments  should  be  announced  beforehand 
as  appropriated  for  each  examination,  and  the  choice  of 
these  appointments  should  be  given  to  candidates  in  order 
of  merit.  The  examinations  should  be  held  at  London, 
Edinburgh,  and  Dublin,  and  there  should  be  eight  examin- 
ers. Evidently  the  master  of  Balliol  had  a  very  clear 
idea  of  what  he  wanted,  and  it  is  astonishing  to  find  how 
closely  the  present  first  division  examinations  follow  his 
scheme.  For  the  lower  grade  of  clerkships,  Jowett  rec- 
ommended examinations  in  reading,  writing  with  dictation, 
geography,  a  general  paper  of  useful  knowledge,  and  a  gen- 
eral viva  voce  examination  to  test  intelligence. 

Jowett,  Northcote,  and  Trevelyan  were  sure  that  with 
such  a  standard  examination  and  the  promise  of  a  highly 
honorable  and  not  ill-remunerated  career,  the  government 
service  would  attract,  as  Macaulay  expected  that  the  Indian 
civil  service  would  attract,  some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the 
universities.  They  recognized  also  how  much  such  a  com- 
petition would  quicken  and  stimulate  the  life  of  universities, 
and  intensify  the  competition  for  their  highest  scholastic 
honors.  We  have  only  to  consider  the  effect  on  American 
universities  if  the  United  States  Government  should  set  up 
an  academic  examination  of  high  standard  for  lucrative 
positions  at  Washington.     The  committee  was  also  con- 


^2  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [72 

fident  that  the  examinations  for  the  lower  grade  of  clerk- 
ships would  stimulate  and  standardize  the  education  of  the 
lower  classes. 

When  the  report  appeared,  shouts  of  disapproval  and 
scorn  arose  on  all  sides.  The  plan  which  Macaulay  had 
introduced  in  India  without  any  great  opposition,  when 
proposed  for  England  by  his  son-in-law,  appeared  as  un- 
familiar as  it  was  startling,  and  Northcote  and  Trevelyan 
quickly  learned  how  much  easier  it  is  to  introduce  reforms 
in  a  dependency  than  at  home.  In  the  first  chapter  we 
have  described  the  conditions  existing  in  London  offices. 
In  1854,  in  a  return  to  an  order  of  the  House  of  Commons 
demanding  the  list  of  subjects  of  examination  in  various 
offices,  it  appeared  that  in  the  Board  of  Trade,  Board  of 
Woods,  Poor  Law,  County  Council,  Home,  Colonial,  and 
Foreign  offices,  even  in  the  Exchequer,  which  was  otherwise 
a  model  department,  there  were  no  examinations  at  all ; ' 
and  that  in  the  Treasury,  Register  General's  office.  Audit, 
Customs,  Irish  Poor  Law  and  Ordinance  departments  and 
in  the  office  of  the  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  the  examin- 
ations consisted  of  simple  arithmetic  and  an  abstract  of 
documents.  In  the  Excise,  War,  and  Post  Office  depart- 
ments, bookkeeping,  geography,  and  history  of  England 
were  further  requirements,  and  only  the  Admiralty  had 
any  thing  like  a  real  qualifying  examination.  We  have 
seen  how  diverse  were  the  opinions  of  various  officials  as 
to  the  need  of  reform,  how  different  the  practices  of  dif- 
ferent offices,  how  flourishing  was  the  system  of  patronage 
which  led  to  the  selection  of  the  "properly  qualified  per- 
sons." It  was  no  small  thing  to  sweep  away  this  patron- 
age and  the  traditions,  good  or  bad,  which  had  developed 
in  various  offices,  with  which  the  leading  officials  and  the 

>  The  clerks  in  the  Board  of  Works  were  all  recruited  from  other 
departments. 


y^]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  73 

governing  classes  had  grown  up,  and  which  they  had  come 
to  consider  permanent  and  indispensable. 

The  opponents  of  the  plan  poured  a  torrent  of  eloquent 
abuse  upon  its  authors.  "  Early  supporters,"  says  Trevel- 
yan  himself,^  "  might  have  been  counted  upon  the  fingers, 
and  if  the  matter  had  been  put  to  the  vote  in  London 
society,  or  the  clubs,  or  even  in  Parliament  itself  by 
secret  voting  [i.  e.,  without  pressure  from  constituents], 
the  new  system  would  have  been  rejected  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority."  Macaulay  had  hopes  that  the  example  of 
the  Indian  Government  would  be  followed  in  the  offices  in 
Whitehall. 

"  There  is  good  public  news,"  he  writes  in  January,  1854. 
"  The  plan  for  appointing  public  servants  by  competition  is 
to  be  adopted  on  a  large  scale,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  Queen's 
Speech  ..."  "...  I  had  a  long  talk  about  the  projected  ex- 
amination with  Trevelyan.  I  am  afraid  he  will  pay  the  ex- 
aminers too  high,  and  turn  the  whole  thing  into  a  job.  .  .  . 
If  the  thing  succeeds  it  will  be  of  immense  benefit  to  the 
country  ..." 

But  it  soon  became  evident, 

adds  the  biographer.  Macaulay's  nephew  and  Trevelyan's 
son, 

that  very  few  of  our  leading  politicians  had  their  hearts  in 
the  matter.  It  was  one  thing  to  deprive  the  East  India  Direc- 
tors of  their  patronage,  and  quite  another  to  surrender  their 
own.  The  outcry  of  the  dispensers  and  expectants  of  public 
employment  was  loud  and  fierce,  and  the  advocates  of  the 
new  system  were  forced  to  admit  that  its  hour  had  not  yet 
come.  "  I  went  to  Brooks's,"  says  Macaulay  ..."  and  found 
everybody  open-mouthed,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  against  Trevel- 

^  Eaton,  Civil  Service  in  Great  Britain,  p.  430.     Letter  of  Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan  to  Mr.  Eaton. 


74  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [74 

yan's  plans  about  the  Civil  Service.  He  has  been  too  sanguine. 
The  pear  is  not  ripe.  I  always  thought  so.  The  time  will 
come,  but  it  has  not  come  yet,  I  am  afraid  that  he  will  be 
much  mortified." 

Trevelyan's  career,  [says  his  son]  was  seriously  threatened 
by  the  hostility  of  some  of  the  most  powerful  men  of  the  day 
.  .  .  Accustomed,  according  to  the  frequent  fate  of  permanent 
officials,  to  be  pushed  to  the  front  in  the  moment  of  jeopardy, 
and  thrust  into  the  rear  in  the  moment  of  triumph,  he  had 
weathered  more  formidable  storms  than  that  which  was  now 
growling  and  blustering  through  all  the  clubs  and  board-rooms 
of  Piccadilly  and  Parliament  Street.  Macaulay,  who  lived 
sufficiently  behind  the  scenes  to  discount  the  full  gravity  of  the 
situation,  was  extremely  uneasy  on  his  brother-in-law's  account. 
[Later  on  Macaulay  wrote:]  "The  news  is  worse.  There 
is  a  set  made  at  him  by  men  who  will  not  scruple  to  do  their 
utmost."  During  the  next  few  weeks  Macaulay  was  never 
so  depressed  as  when  he  had  been  spending  part  of  his  after- 
noon at  Brooks's.' 

Sarcasm,  ridicule,  and  gloomy  prophecies  of  evil  assailed 
Trevelyan  and  Northcote.  Forceful  and  weighty  expres- 
sions of  conservative  opinion,  bigoted  intolerance  of  change, 
and  stupid  pride  in  the  existing  service  were  powerfully  rep- 
resented. We  are  told  by  one  critic  that  the  proposed  sys- 
tem is  Chinese.'  by  another  that  it  is  Utopian,"  by  a  third 

'  Trevelyan.  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Macaulay,  pp.  611-612. 

2  "About  China  the  critics  know  nothing  except  that  the  Chinese 
consume  large  quantities  of  opium,  that  their  ladies  have  small  feet, 
and  that  there  are  public  examinations  to  test  the  fitness  of  candidates 
for  the  government  service."     The  Times,  March  17,  1854. 

3  The  Spectator  was  conspicuous  in  bringing  this  charge.  Like  all 
Conservative  organs,  when  it  was  unable  to  call  the  authors  of  a  new 
plan  scoundrels,  demagogues,  or  iconoclasts,  it  fell  back  on  the  time- 
worn  expedient  of  branding  them  as  dreamers,  and  took  comfort  in 
the  thought  that  after  all  their  dreams  had  no  official  sanction  and 
would  not  be  realized. 


75]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  yc 

that  it  is  Prussian.  One  prophesied  a  bureaucracy  and  an- 
other predicted  the  ruin  of  the  existing  esprit  de  corps.  One 
group  of  critics  was  sure  that  the  plan  would  attract  only 
academic  prigs;  another  group  foresaw  the  clever  but  ill- 
bred  middle  class  youth  ^  parading  his  Cockney  smartness  at 
Whitehall;  a  third  group  was  sure  that  open  competition 
would  not  attract  any  really  able  men  at  all.  The  re- 
port was  assailed  because  it  would  deprive  the  service  of 
its  aristocratic  ^  character  and  because  it  would  give  un- 
just preference  to  aristocratic  education;  because  it  would 
deprive  the  government  of  necessary  patronage  although 
the  patronage  was  directed  with  sole  regard  to  merit; 
because  examinations  are  no  test  of  merit  at  all  and  be- 
cause they  test  only  qualities  which  are  not  essential  to 
the  service.  It  was  argued  that  the  projected  examining 
board  would  be  too  expensive,  that  it  would  become  a 
patronage  bureau,  and  that  it  would  take  responsibility 
and  authoritative  influence  away  from  the  heads  of  offices.'^ 
One  wiseacre  said  that  no  one  had  ever  suggested  such  a 
reform  in  the  church  where  patronage  was  even  more 
flourishing;  others  asked  triumphantly   what  would   have 

1  This  contingency  was  guarded  against  in  a  letter  to  Trevelyan  and 
Northcote  from  the  Reverend  W.  H.  Thompson,  Regius  Professor  of 
Greek  at  Cambridge,  alm.ost  funny  in  its  solemn  priggishness.  He 
wrote  from  Trinity  endorsing  Jowett's  plan,  and  advised  that  classics 
or  mathematics  should  be  compulsory  in  order  that  there  would  not  be 
admitted  into  the  higher  branches  of  the  civil  service  "  persons  whose 
birth  and  training  may  not  have  been  favorable  to  the  development  of 
those  sentiments  which  characterize  the  class  of  gentleman."  The  rev- 
erend gentleman  advocated  a  Latin  essay  on  some  subject  of  ancient 
history,  literature,  or  philosophy. 

*  The  Times,  April  20.  1854. 

*  See  quotations  from  the  Morning  Post,  Daily  News,  Morning  Her- 
ald, and  Morning  Chronicle  of  1854,  quoted  in  a  pamphlet  Observa- 
tions upon  the  Report  by  Sir  C.  E.  Trevelyan  and  Sir  S.  H.  Northcote, 
etc.,  by  a  Civil  Subaltern. 


76  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [75 

become  of  Wellington  and  Clive  if  there  had  been  com- 
petitive examinations. 

The  fact  is  that,  with  the  exception  of  The  Times,  which 
was  from  the  beginning  a  staunch  supporter  of  civil  service 
reform,  current  literature  contained  much  abuse  and  vitu- 
peration, but  little  intelligent  criticism. 

The  really  intelligent  and  forceful  criticisms  of  the  re- 
port came  from  the  civil  service  itself.  The  official  cri- 
ticisms from  heads  of  offices  and  from  prominent  profes- 
sors and  schoolmasters,  which  appeared  as  an  appendix 
to  the  report,  are  among  the  most  illuminating  documents 
ever  published  by  the  government  printers.  All  the  ques- 
tions of  civil  service  reform  were  argued  in  this  appendix 
and  subsequent  years  have  added  nothing  to  their  scope 
and  force.  But  we  must  not  expect  to  find  these  officials 
in  agreement.  Victorian  narrowness,  class  pride,  and  the 
innate  conservatism  of  the  old-school  official  clashed  with 
the  alert  and  ingenious  individualism  of  a  new  era.  But 
it  is  certain  that  in  no  other  country  at  this  time  could  the 
chief  permanent  officials  of  state  departments  have  written 
opinions  on  their  organizations  so  logical,  complete,  and  il- 
luminating, manifesting  at  once  the  highest  literary  educa- 
tion and  the  most  profound  experience.  Even  where  an 
official  was  arguing  against  higher  education  as  a  test  of 
fitness  for  office,  the  temper,  the. form,  and  the  lucidity  of 
his  arguments  often  constituted  an  effectual  rebuttal  of  his 
conclusion.  For  example,  Mr.  Chadwick  of  the  Poor  Law 
Board  quoted  the  following  arguments  against  the  test  of 
higher  education : 

"  Many  persons  expect  great  improvements  to  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice from  university  examinations,  or  from  examinations  con- 
ducted in  a  similar  manner  and  on  similar  subjects;  and  some 
persons  desire  to  restrict  all  responsible  public  offices  to  per- 


yy]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  77 

sons  who  have  taken  a  degree,  by  way  of  securing  respectabil- 
ity and  capacity.  There  would  be  force  in  this  notion  if  univer- 
sity graduates  were  invariably,  or  usually  found  to  be  in  office 
superior  to  other  men  of  their  class.    But  this  is  not  the  case  in 

official  life Certainly  many  first-rate  public  men  have  been 

brought  up  at  public  schools  and  universities,  because  the 
majority  of  the  classes  from  which  they  are  taken  are  educated 
at  these  places,  but  many  equally  able  officers  have  not  been 
so  educated;  and  it  is  well  known  to  all  minutely  acquainted 
with  public  offices,  that  the  universities  furnish  many  of  the 
most  worthless.  The  first  requisites  of  a  young  man  entering 
life,  public  or  private,  are  good  handwriting,  a  familiarity 
with  common  arithmetic,  and  common  forms  of  business  and 
accounts,  and  the  power  of  writing  correctly  his  own  language. 
Now,  it  is  notorious  that  young  men  from  the  universities 
usually  enter  public  offices  very  deficient  in  these  qualifications, 
and  that  they  commence  and  often  remain  very  bad  men  of 
business."  No  merchant  or  banker  would  require  his  clerk  to 
undergo  an  initiatory  examination  in  the  Antigone  of  Sophocles 
or  in  De  Morgan's  Differential  and  Integral  Calculus,  nor 
would  he  think  that  such  qualifications,  however  interesting  in 
themselves,  would  be  of  more  use  in  his  business  than  the 
power  of  copying  a  painting  of  Turner's  or  a  statue  of  Ca- 
nova's — very  interesting  things  in  their  way  also,  and  which 
in  truth  did  formerly  serve  the  purpose  of  tests,  when  Rubens 
was  made  an  ambassador.  .  .  .  The  merchant  hires  what  he 
wants,  and  not  qualifications  that  are  no  use  to  him,  .  .  .  for 
which  he  would  have  to  pay  extra;  yet  the  qualifications  he  re- 
quires are  quite  as  high  as  those  of  a  Government  clerk.  Many 
an  awkward-looking  fellow  of  no.  great  attainments  is  found  to 
distance  his  more  elegant  and  university-educated  competitors 
in  the  long  run,  because  he  has  steadiness  and  self-command ; 
it  is  found  that  whatever  he  can  do,  he  can  be  trusted  to  do: 
he  is  punctual,  regular,  industrious  and  pains-taking;  acquires 
soon  a  knowledge  of  official  details  and  a  power  of  carrying 
them  out ;  knows  all  that  is  going  on,  and  can  always  be  re- 


78  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [78 

ferred  to  with  reliance.  In  time  he  cannot  be  done  without, 
and  will  and  must  be  promoted.  Had  it  been  a  question  of 
acquired  knowledge,  he  would  have  stood  no  chance  with  a 
university  examiner,  because  he  has  not  a  smattering  of  the  cal- 
culus, and  does  not  make  Latin  verses.  He  understands 
accounts,  however,  which  are  of  much  greater  importance, 
though  the  examiner  himself  in  all  probability,  neither  knows 
nor  values  them.  He  is  not  above  hard  work,  or  below  it,  or 
afraid  of  it.^ 

Sir  James  Stephen  gave  several  "  unanswerable  ob- 
jections "  to  the  report.  The  prizes  are  not  worthy  the 
pursuit  of  the  university  honors'  man.  Money  is  the  only 
attraction.  He  labors  in  an  obscurity  as  profound  as  it 
is  unavoidable.  His  official  character  is  absorbed  in  his 
superior's.  He  must  listen  silently  to  praises  for  others 
which  his  pen  has  won  for  them.  No  man  of  real  mental 
power,  to  whom  the  truth  was  known  beforehand,  would 
subject  himself  to  an  arduous  examination,  in  order  to 
win  a  post  so  ill-paid,  so  obscure,  and  so  subordinate.  "  Of 
the  six  ablest  men  in  the  Colonial  Office  in  my  time,  three 
left  altogether,  two  by  luckily  serving  in  Canada  were 
promoted,  and  one  has  found  solace  and  atonement  in  his 
literary  reputation."  ^  The  successful  candidates  in  the 
higher  examinations  would  not  be  the  men  wanted.  They 
might  have  the  courage,  resource,  and  intelligence  to  suc- 
ceed in  open  competition,  but  these  are  gifts  ill-suited  to 
one  who  is  to  be  entombed  for  life  at  Downing  Street. 
The  promotion  of  brilliant  men  over  superiors  would  merely 
insure  bitter  jealousies  and  enduring  quarrels  and  would 
render  all  cordial  cooperation  impossible.  The  depressed 
and  disappointed  majority  would  fall  back  on  passive  re- 

1  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  PP-  161 -i6a 

2  Ihid.,  p.  75.  et  seq. 


79]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  yg 

sistance  impossible  to  combat.  "  Detur  digniori  "  has  only 
been  the  rule  in  Utopia,  not  in  commerce  nor  in  the  legal 
and  medical  professions.  If  there  were  competitive  exami- 
nations, the  crown  would  surrender  an  undoubted  right  and 
the  ministers  their  just  patronage. 

On  the  other  hand,  another  critic  agreed  with  Macaulay 
that  almost  without  exception  those  who  have  taken  high 
honors  in  university  examinations,  have  been  distinguished 
for  good  conduct  as  well  as  for  learning  and  ability. 
"  Without  steady  application  a  longe  course  of  study  can- 
not be  mastered,  and  habitual  diligence  brings  other  vir- 
tues in  its  train — temperance,  self-control,  punctuality,  ac- 
curacy," etc.  Another  critic  answered  Sir  James  Stephen's 
contention  that  Oxford  and  Cambridge  men  would  think 
themselves  underpaid :  "  But  surely  a  moderate  salary  at 
starting,  a  prospect  of  increase,  comparatively  light  work, 
a  good  social  position,  and  the  hope  of  advance  in  public 
life,  would  more  than  counterbalance  the  attractions  of 
law  and  medicine,  with  their  expensive  and  often  unin- 
teresting special  training,  and  their  long  years  of  poverty 
and  obscurity." 

Fremantle,  head  of  the  Customs  Board,  emphasized  the 
uselessness  of  highly  trained  men  for  routine  work : 

The  highest  posts  in  these  offices  [Revenue  and  Customs] 
are  few,  and  those  few  by  no  means  highly  rewarded;  and  it 
is  manifest — the  total  number  of  Clerks  being  very  consider- 
able— that  the  proportion  who  can  hope  to  attain  these  posts  is 
exceedingly  small.  The  majority  are  left  to  pass  through  the 
respective  classes  of  their  various  branches  without  special 
notice  or  distinction,  and  conclude  a  laborious  official  life  with- 
out having  been  required  to  exhibit  any  qualities  beyond  those 
of  industry  and  integrity.  Surely  there  can  be  no  advantage 
in  seeking  to  fill  such  clerkships  .  .  .  with  young  men  of  talents 
and  ambition,  or  of  superior  literary  attainments,  nor  in  invit- 


8o  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [go 

ing  them,  by  competition,  to  come  into  a  service  which  can 
neither  reward  them  for  success  nor  compensate  them  for  the 
chances  of  faihire.  The  performance  of  routine  duties,  after 
the  lapse  of  one  or  two  years,  could  not  fail  to  "  exercise  a 
depressing  influence  upon  them ;"  the  work  "  would  become 
distasteful;"  the  clerks  discontented  and  seeking  to  obtain 
promotion  or  removal  to  better  situations,  and  on  failure  of 
such  promotion  (there  being,  in  fact,  no  offices  to  which  they 
could  be  removed),  they  would  be  finally  induced  to  retire 
from  the  public  service  with  mortification  and  disappointment.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  Spottiswood,  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office,  wrote  that  even  among  the  inferior 
clerks  general  information  and  education  are  of  great  use. 

Sir  George  Cornwall  Lewis,  statesman  and  essayist, 
wrote  to  Trevelyan  the  most  brilliant  summary  and  criti- 
cism of  the  report.  Lewis's  arguments  against  a  single, 
interchangeable  civil  service  personnel,  transferable  from 
office  to  office,  are  probably  unanswerable.  His  arguments 
against  open  competition  and  for  promotion  by  merit  are 
less  cogent. 

The  permanent  officers  of  a  department  are  the  depositories 
of  the  official  traditions,  .  .  .  and  knowledge  .  .  .  acquired 
in  one  department  would  be  useless  in  another.  The  special 
experience  .  .  .  which  the  chief  clerk  of  the  criminal  depart- 
ment of  the  Home  Office  has  acquired  there  is  useless  in  the 
Foreign  Office  or  Admiralty.  Where  a  general  superintendence 
is  required,  and  assistance  can  be  obtained  from  subordinates, 
and  wdiere  the  chief  qualifications  are  judgment,  sagacity,  and 
enlightened  political  opinions,  such  a  change  of  offices  is  pos- 
sible ;  but  as  you  descend  lower  in  the  official  scale,  the 
specialty  of  functions  increases — the  duties  must  be  performed 
in  person,  with  little  or  no  assistance,  and  there  is  conse- 
quently  a   necessity    for    special    knowledge   and   experience. 

'  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  P-  329. 


8i]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  8 1 

Hence,  the  same  person  may  be  successively,  at  the  head  of  the 
Home  Office,  the  Foreign  Oflfice,  the  Colonial  Office,  and  the 
Admiralty;  but  to  transfer  an  experienced  clerk  from  one 
office  to  another  would  be  .  .  .  like  transferring  a  skilful 
naval  officer  to  the  army,  or  appointing  a  military  engineer 
officer  to  command  a  ship;  [in  practical  life]  an  architect  may 
direct  the  execution  of  different  classes  of  buildings  .  .  .  but 
the  subordinate  workmen  .  .  .  retain  their  separate  functions 
unchanged — a  carpenter  does  not  become  a  mason,  a  painter 
or  glazier  ...  an  ironmonger  or  plasterer.^  [Thus  a  single 
Civil  Service,  including  all  clerks  advanced  without  regard  to 
departmental  divisions,  is  impossible.] 

One  of  the  ablest  administrators  in  England,  Addington, 
the  Under  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  corroborated  the 
evidence  of  Lewis  as  to  transfers,  and  like  Fremantle,  em- 
phasized the  commonplace  routine  of  government  offices 
and  the  danger  of  raising  civil  service  requirements  too 
high.    The  civil  service  is  heterogeneous. 

The  Foreign  Office  and  Excise  Office  ...  are  equally  com- 
ponent parts  of  the  Civil  Service;  and  yet  they  are  so  totally 
dissimilar  in  all  essential  points  that  the  same  rules  touching 
qualifications,  and  consequently  touching  examinations,  cannot 
possibly  apply  to  both.  I  am  therefore  quite  at  a  loss  to 
conceive  how  the  various  and  heterogeneous  classes  of  the 
Civil  Service  can  well  be  included  in  one  general  category 
and  scheme  of  treatment;  and  it  seems  consequently  to  me 
that  at  the  very  outset  the  reasoning  and  observations  em- 
ployed in  the  Report  are,  in  this  essential  point,  based  in 
error,  since,  according  to  my  conception,  the  term  "  Civil  Ser- 
vice "  is  but  a  term  popularly  used  for  general  convenience. 
but  that  it  represents  a  thing  heterogeneous  in  its  nature,  and, 
as  such,  requiring  in  its  practical  treatment  the  application  of 
separate  rules  and  principles  suitable  to  its  separate  parts. ^ 

»  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  PP-  uo-iii.  '  Ibid.,  pp.  347-348. 


82  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [82 

As  to  genius  and  the  service,  Addington  had  this  to  say : 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  scale  of  intellectual  cultivation 
and  power  which  is  assumed  in  the  Report  as  needed  in  the 
Civil  Service  is  greatly  overrated,  and  also  that  by  overesti- 
mating the  requirements  of  the  Civil  Service  we  shall  be  liable 
to  contract  unnecessarily  and  injuriously  the  circle  of  candi- 
dates. However  paradoxical,  or  perhaps  even  grovelling,  such 
an  opinion  may  appear,  I  apprehend  that,  except  in  the  Heads, 
or  the  highest  officers,  of  departments,  no  transcendant  degree  of 
talent,  or  of  literary  or  scientific  cultivation,  will  be  found  neces- 
sary to  fit  a  man  for  performing  properly  the  duties  assigned 
to  him.  ...  A  good  Departmental  Clerk  is,  in  fact,  mainly  an 
aggregation  of  cumulative  daily  experience  and  tradition,  com- 
bined with  that  readiness  of  mind  and  pen  which  practice  gives, 
and  which  enables  a  man  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  his 
superiors  at  the  right  moment  and  in  the  right  manner.  But 
it  is  the  dry  and  hard  discipline  and  drudgery  of  the  desk 
which,  however  wearisome  they  may  have  been,  have  mainly 
contributed  to  lay  the  foundations  of  those  qualities  which  in 
after  years  shine  forth  so  eminently  in  the  accomplished  De- 
partmental Clerk,  and  which  render  him  one  of  the  most  use- 
ful and  valuable  members  of  the  body  politic.^ 

Addington's  conclusion,  like  Sir  James  Stephen's,  was 
pessimistic. 

I  fear  that  the  tendency  to  favouritism,  and  what  is  vulgarly 
termed  "  jobbing,"  must  be  looked  upon  as  inherent  in  every 
system  of  Government.  ..."  Jobbing  "  is  a  part,  though  an 
ugly  part,  of  the  price  which  a  free  people  pay  for  their  con- 
stitutional liberty.^ 

The  question  of  promotion  by  merit  w^hich  the  report 
had  advocated,  is  one  which  every  nation  has  found  difficult 
to  realize.  The  claims  of  seniority  are  potent  everywhere. 
Promotion  by  merit  could  not  be  introduced  into  the  civil 

1  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  PP.  35o-35i-  ^  ^&»^-.  P-  356. 


83]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  83 

service  at  one  stroke  of  the  official  pen.  The  secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Control  was  a  leading  opponent  of  this 
proposal. 

In  the  promotions,  therefore,  through  the  classes  of  junior 
clerks,  I  think  the  principle  of  seniority  must  be  allowed  to 
prevail  in  some  degree,  and  I  should  myself  be  more  disposed 
to  act  on  the  principle  of  rejecting  an  inefficient  rather  than  of 
rewarding  the  most  efficient  clerk,  when  the  difficulty  of  really 
determining  who  is  the  most  efficient  is  so  great.  I  am  aware 
that  many  of  the  old  Civil  Servants  regard  these  views  un- 
favourably, and  see  in  this  proposal,  not  a  security  for  merit 
being  duly  rewarded,  but  rather  an  opportunity  for  the  exer- 
cise of  favoritism ;  while  and  with  truth  it  is  urged  that  the 
long  services  of  unpretending  but  hardworking  public  servants 
may  be  unfairly  dealt  by,  when  preference  is  given  to  less 
modest  merit. ^ 

We  have  seen  that  the  report  was  received  by  press  and 
public  with  anger  and  contempt.  We  have  seen  that  the 
genuine  critics  were  civil  ^pryant.s  and  schoolmasters  whose 
views  were  published  with  me  report,  who  favored  reform 
but  were  unprepared  for  such  radical  action.  We  must 
now  see  what  was  the  decisive  attitude  of  the  Queen,  the 
Cabinet  and  Parliament. 

As  regards  Parliament,  those  who  had  profited  by  the 
patronage  system  and  those  who  were  too  conservative  to 
tolerate  a  change,  were  united  against  the  report.  The 
supercilious  attitude  of  the  House  of  Lords  was  aptly  ex- 
pressed by  Lord  Brougham,  who  "  did  not  think  it  neces- 
sary to  enter  at  any  length  into  the  subject,  first,  because 
he  was  not  exactly  aware  what  was  the  plan  which  the  gov- 
ernment had  in  contemplation  and  secondly,  because  he  had 
an  impression  on  his  mind  that  their  lordships  were  not 
likely  to  hear  much  more  about  it  (a  laugh)."  " 

1  Civil  Service  Papers,  1854-5,  PP-  232-233. 
•  Hansard,  H.  L.,  March  13,  1854. 


84  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [84 

Lord  Brougham  was  quite  justified  in  his  first  remark 
but  he  was  grievously  mistaken  in  the  second.  Nobody 
knew  what  was  the  plan  of  the  Government.  Thus  far 
the  report  was  merely  a  report  to  the  Treasury,  and  did 
not  represent  any  settled  policy  of  government.  In  fact 
the  Cabinet  was  far  from  united  on  this  subject.  Within 
the  Cabinet  Gladstone  found  his  most  uncompromising 
opponent  in  Lord  John  Russell.  Gladstone's  defense  of 
the  new  plan  in  a  letter  to  Russell  is  noteworthy. 

May  we  not  get,  1  will  not  say  more  ease  and  certainty 
for  the  leader  of  the  House,  but  more  real  and  more  honour- 
able strength  with  the  better  and,  in  the  long  run,  the  ruling 
part  of  the  community,  by  a  signal  proof  of  cordial  desire  that 
the  processes  by  which  government  is  carried  on  should  not  in 
elections  only,  but  elsewhere  too  be  honourable  and  pure?  I 
speak  with  diffidence ;  but  remembering  that  at  the  revolution 
we  passed  over  from  prerogative  to  patronage,  and  that  since 
the  revolution  we  have  also  passed  from  bribery  to  influence, 
I  cannot  think  the  process  is  to  end  here;  and  after  all  we 
have  seen  of  the  good  sense  and  good  feeling  of  the  commun- 
ity, though  it  may  be  too  sanguine,  I  cherish  the  hope  that  the 
day  is  now  near  at  hand,  or  actually  come,  when  in  pursuit 
not  of  visionary  notions,  but  of  a  great  practical  and  economical 
improvement,  we  may  safely  give  yet  one  more  new  and  strik- 
ing sign  of  rational  confidence  in  the  intelligence  and  character 
of  the  people.^ 

Lord  John  wrote  him  curtly  in  reply :  "  I  hope  no  change 
will  be  made,  and  I  certainly  must  protest  against  it."  ^ 
In  reply  to  even  a  second  assault  he  remained  quite  un- 
convinced. "At  present,"  he  said,  "  the  Queen  appointed 
the  ministers,  and  the  ministers  the  subordinates;  in  futtire 

*  Morley,  Life  of  Gladstone,  vol.  ii,  aprendix,  p.  608. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  380. 


85]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  85 

the  board  of  examiners  would  be  in  the  place  of  the  Queen. 
Our  institutions  would  be  as  nearly  republican  as  possible, 
and  the  new  spirit  of  the  public  offices  would  not  be  loyalty 
but  republicanism !  "  '  As  one  of  Lord  John's  kindred 
spirits  declared,  "The  more  the  civil  service  is  recruited 
from  the  lower  classes,  the  less  will  it  be  sought  after  by 
the  higher,  until  at  last  the  aristocracy  will  be  altogether 
dissociated  from  the  permanent  civil  service  of  the  coun- 
try." '  Gladstone  returned  the  attack  in  a  letter  to  Graham 
(January  3,  1854).  "I  do  not  want  any  pledges  as  to 
details;  what  I  seek  is  your  countenance  and  favor  in  an 
endeavour  to  introduce  to  the  cabinet  a  proposal  that  we 
should  give  our  sanction  to  the  principle  that  in  every 
case  where  a  satisfactory  test  of  a  defined  and  palpable 
nature  can  be  furnished,  the  public  service  shall  be  laid  open 
to  personal  merit  .  .  .  This  is  my  contribution  to  parlia- 
mentary reform."  '  After  a  long  discussion  the  Cabinet 
acquiesced. 

It  was  not  only  in  the  clubs  in  Fleet  Street  and  amongst 
the  politicians  and  members  of  Parliament  that  the  plan  was 
unpopular.  Mr.  Gladstone  as  its  sponsor  met  with  cold 
approval  at  the  hands  of  the  Sovereign,  whose  wishes  he 
always  affected  to  consider  with  the  utmost  conscientious 
scrutiny  and  usually  ultimately  disregarded.  The  Queen 
wrote  to  Mr.  Gladstone  begging  him  to  be  sure  of  the 
Victorian  respectability  of  appointees. 

Buckingham  Palace,  i/tli  February,  1854.  The  Queen  has 
received  Mr  Gladstone's  letter  and  memorandum,  and  has 
heard  from  the  Prince  the  further  explanation  of  the  grounds 
upon  which  he,  Mr  Gladstone,  thinks  the  new  regulations 
respecting  the  Civil  Service  necessary.      The  Queen,  although 

1  Morley,  Life  of  Gladstone,  vol.  i,  p.  380. 
'  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  381. 


86  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [86 

not  without  considerable  misgivings,  sanctions  the  proposed 
plan,  trusting  that  Mr  Gladstone  will  do  what  he  can,  in  the 
arrangements  of  the  details  of  it,  to  guard  against  the  dangers, 
which  she  has  pointed  out  in  her  former  letter  and  through  the 
Prince  when  he  saw  Mr  Gladstone.  A  check,  for  instance, 
would  be  necessary  upon  the  admission  of  candidates  to  com- 
pete for  employment,  securing  that  they  should  be  otherwise 
eligible,  besides  the  display  of  knowledge  which  they  may  ex- 
hibit under  examination.  Without  this  a  young  man  might 
be  very  ineligible,  and  still  after  having  been  proclaimed  to 
the  world  as  first  in  ability,  it  would  require  very  strong  evi- 
dence of  misconduct  to  justify  his  exclusion  by  the  Govern- 
ment.^ 

Gladstone's  reply  was  characteristic.  He  explained  his 
attitude  patiently,  but  hardly  with  the  subtle  flatter}^  by 
which  Lord  Beaconsfield  governed  with  the  consent  of  his 
Sovereign. 

Downing  Street,  17th  February,  1854.  The  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  presents  his  humble  duty  to  your  Majesty,  and 
has  the  honour  to  acknowledge  your  Majesty's  gracious  letter. 
He  takes  blame  to  himself  for  having  caused  your  Majesty 
trouble  by  omitting  to  include  in  his  short  memorandum  an 
explanation  of  the  phrase  "  qualified  persons."  Experience  at 
the  universities  and  public  schools  of  this  country  has  shown 
that  in  a  large  majority  of  cases  the  test  of  open  examination 
is  also  an  eflfectual  test  of  character ;  as,  except  in  the  very  re- 
markable cases,  the  previous  industry  and  self-denial,  which 
proficiency  evinces,  are  rarely  separated  from  general  habits  of 
virtue.  But  he  humbly  assures  your  Majesty  that  the  utmost 
pains  will  be  taken  to  provide  not  only  for  the  majority  but 
for  all  cases,  by  the  strictest  enquiries  which  the  case  will 
admit ;  and  he  has  the  most  confident  belief  that  the  securities 
for  character  under  the  system,  although  they  cannot  be  un- 

^  Letters  of  Queen  Victoria   (New  York,  1907),  vol.  iii,  pp.  12-13. 


87]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  REFORM  gy 

erring,  will  be  stronger  and  more  trustworthy  than  any  of 
which  the  present  method  of  appointment  is  susceptible.^ 

Gladstone  achieved  a  merely  nominal  victory  over  his 
colleagues.  In  the  Speech  from  the  Throne  in  1854  there 
was  a  paragraph  clearly  implying  the  intention  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  propose  a  bill  embodying  the  principles  of  the 
Trevelyan-Northcote  report.  Somehow  the  reform  was 
arrested.  The  Treasury  adopted  several  recommendations 
of  the  report  in  the  departments  under  its  supervision,  but 
attempted  no  general  reorganization.  The  promised  bill 
was  never  laid  on  the  table,  partly  owing  to  the  Crimean 
War  which  was  to  afford  a  startling  proof  of  the  admin- 
istrative incompetence,  partly  because  the  Ministry  had 
never  really  been  convinced  and  was  only  too  glad  of  an 
excuse  for  postponing  action. 

In  November  Gladstone  wrote  to  Trevelyan : 

My  own  opinions  are  more  and  more  in  favour  of  the  plan 
of  competition.  I  do  not  mean  that  they  can  be  more  in  its 
favour  as  a  principle,  than  they  were  when  I  invited  you  and 
Northcote  to  write  the  report  which  has  lit  up  the  flame;  but 
more  and  more  do  the  incident  evils  seem  curable  and  the 
difficulties  removable.* 

The  Times  voiced  the  irritation  of  honest  reformers  in 
an  effective  editorial,  openly  accusing  the  Ministry  of  bad 
faith. 

The  existence  of  a  measure  has  been  solemnly  announced 
by  Royal  Order ;  its  advent  has  been  foretold  with  pomp  and 
ceremony;  but  as  to  the  nature  of  the  change  intended,  we 
are  left  most  provokingly  in  ignorance.  It  is  true  that  an  in- 
quiry has  been  instituted — that  a  report  has  appeared ;  but  the 

^Letters  of  Queen   Victoria  (New  York,  1907),  vol.  Hi,  pp.  I3-I4- 
2  Morley,  op.  cit.,  p.  381. 


88  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [88 

Ministers  have  taken  the  greatest  precautions  to  divest  this 
report  of  any  small  official  sanction  it  might  be  supposed  to 
possess.  If  the  scheme  proposed  is  that  adopted  by  the  gov- 
ernment, why  is  it  scouted  and  ridiculed  by  their  organs?  If 
it  is  not,  why  is  the  public  to  be  tantalized  with  the  prospect 
of  a  reform  that  is  never  intended  to  be  realized?  ' 

The  reformers  were  sincere,  but  they  were  bewildered  by 
the  eloquent  abuse  of  their  adversaries,  and  their  generous 
enthusiasm  was  a  trifle  chilled  by  the  just  censure  of  those 
who  knew  even  better  than  they  the  temper  of  Whitehall. 
The  report  was  too  broad  and  sweeping.  Such  gigantic 
schemes  must  be  tested  and  evolved  gradually  in  practice. 
The  civil  service  w^as  not  prepared  for  so  great  a  revclu- 
tion,  and  public  opinion  had  to  be  educated  up  to  it.  Great 
obstacles  arose  as  the  plan  was  developed  in  detail.  Poli- 
tical expediency  dictated  compromises.  Time  and  chance 
came  to  modify  Gladstone's  proposition.  Fifteen  years 
passed  before  open  competition  was  finally  established,  and 
thirty  before  the  other  essential  features  of  the  Report  of 
1853  were  adopted. 

'  The  Times,  April  20,  1S54. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Examination  Introduced 

"  The  moment  favoritism  ceased  to  be  powerful,  it  became 
contemptible." — Eaton,  Civil  Service  in  Great  Britain. 


The  Aberdeen  Ministry  went  out  after  the  War. 
Palmerston,  who  succeeded,  understood  the  civil  service 
situation.  ParHament  did  not  favor  open  competition.  A 
statute  dealing  with  limited  competition  would  have  been 
too  narrow  to  have  been  really  effective,  and  too  rigid  to 
have  gained  more  than  reluctant  obedience  from  the  de- 
partment heads.  It  was  better  to  leave  the  tentative  re- 
forms to  the  Treasury,  than  to  drag  the  civil  service  into 
Parliament,  where  the  majority  was  either  hostile  or  apa- 
thetic. The  Treasury  is  the  heart  of  the  civil  service.  The 
two  most  important  cabinet  officials  are  usually  at  its 
head;  its  permanent  officials  are  the  ablest  in  the  service; 
it  directly  controls  the  great  revenue  departments  and, 
through  finance,  exercises  an  indirect  control  over  all  the 
other  departments  of  state.  Almost  no  change  in  the  civil 
service  of  any  office  can  be  made  without  touching  finance, 
and  when  finance  is  affected  the  Treasury  decides  on  the 
general  merits  of  the  question.  The  Parliamentary  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  is  Patronage  Secretary,  and  through 
him  the  chief  appointments  are  made.  The  Treasury  offi- 
cers and  clerks  are  accustomed  to  deal  with  all  the  other  de- 
partments of  state.  They  understand  the  problems  and 
personnel  of  the  various  departments,  the  relations  of  the 
89]  89 


QO  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [90 

departments  among  themselves  and  to  the  other  organs 
of  the  state. 

It  is  important  to  fix  our  eyes  on  the  Treasury  as  the 
source  of  civil  service  reform.  With  the  exception  of 
pensions,  legislation  affecting  the  civil  service  has  come 
through  Orders  in  Council  emanating  from  the  Treasury. 

The  Order  in  Council  of  May,  1855,  was  the  first  step 
after  the  storm  following  the  Report  of  1853  had  sub- 
sided. It  established  a  central  board  of  examiners  inde- 
pendent of  the  departments — the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion— and  it  appointed  as  commissioners  three  distin- 
guished men — Sir  Edward  Ryan,  a  close  friend  of 
Macaulay,  formerly  Chief  Justice  of  Bengal,  recently  a 
prominent  officer  of  the  Exchequer,  Sir  J.  G.  Shaw  Lefevre, 
Clerk  Assistant  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Edward 
Romilly.  a  distinguished  civil  servant,  the  chairman  of 
the  Board  of  Audit.  This  board  was  to  examine  all  can- 
didates for  the  civil  service — but  the  standard  of  examin- 
ation in  each  department  was  left  to  be  fixed  by  agreement 
with  the  head  of  the  department,  and  it  was  expressly 
stated  that  no  change  was  to  be  made  in  the  existing 
method  of  nomination  and  appointment.  The  exami- 
nations were  not  made  competitive,  but  it  was  obvious  that 
limited  competition  was  expected.  A  six  months'  probation 
was  established  in  every  case.  An  important  loophole  was 
left  by  a  provision  for  the  appointment  of  men  of  mature 
age  and  special  qualifications  without  certificates.  The 
duty  of  the  commissioners  in  the  case  of  each  aspirant  was 
to  ascertain  and  certify  that  the  candidate  was  ( i )  within 
the  limits  of  age  prescribed  by  the  department  in  question; 
(2)  free  from  physical  defect  or  disease;  (3)  of  good 
character;  and  (4)  of  the  requisite  knowledge  and  ability 
for  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 

Not  long  after  the  commission  was  appointed,  the  ques- 


gi]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  gi 

tion  of  open  competition  was  brought  up  in  Parliament 
There  was  a  limited  attendance.  Some  members  evidently 
had  no  convictions ;  others  lacked  the  courage  to  put  them- 
selves on  record  before  their  constituents,  and  gracefully 
avoided  the  issue  by  absenting  themselves.  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  made  his  maiden  speech  to  a  hostile  audience 
The  vote  was  140-125  against  open  competition. 

The  commission  had  a  delicate  task  to  perform.  The 
press,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  service,  many  members  of 
Parliament,  and  the  relatives  and  friends  of  nominees  were 
openly  hostile;  leading  officials  disapproved  of  the  com- 
mission, but  it  must  be  owned  that  they  put  no  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  commissioners  and  were  quick  to  recog- 
nize their  judicial  status.  The  commissioners  showed 
great  tact  and  firmness.  They  provoked  no  antagonism. 
They  were  wise  in  making  their  standards  moderate  and 
rejecting  only  for  conspicuous  incompetence.^  They  pub- 
lished their  first  annual  report  in  1856,  before  the  year  was 
up  in  order  to  correct  misapprehensions  and  answer  un- 
founded charges.  All  kinds  of  allegations  were  made  about 
the  difficulty  of  the  examination.  It  was  said  that  candi- 
dates who  would  previously  have  been  appointed  were 
dismissed,  by  means  of  fantastic  tests  and  nightmares  of 
pedantry.^  The  commissioners  pointed  out  that  the  num- 
ber of  vacancies  was  about  the  same,  and  that  more  candi- 
dates were  bound  to  fail  because  more  were  nominated  for 
each  vacancy.  They  showed  that  the  majority  of  failures 
was  due.  not  to  deficiency  in  abstruse  sciences,  but  to  gross 
and  discreditable  ignorance  of  spelling  and  arithmetic,  and 
inability  to  write  legibly.^     The  critics  had   some  reason 

'  Cf.  First  Report  of  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners,  Parliamentary 
Papers,  1856,  xxii,  and  the  Guide  to  Government  Appointments,  by 
James  Hurst  (London,  1856). 

*  To  remove  the  impression  that  the  standards  were  too  high,  some 


92  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [92 

to  quarrel  with  the  first  history  examination.  The  first 
question  would  test  the  inventive  faculties  of  the  averag-e 
intelligent  collegian.  "  Give  the  dates,  adopting  common 
chronology,  of  the  following  events — The  Deluge,  Exodus, 
Building  of  Rome,  Peloponnesian  War,  The  Hegira,  Coro- 
nation of  Charlemagne,  Invention  of  Printing,  The  Revo- 
lution, Separation  of  Crowns  of  Great  Britain  and  Han- 
over." No  doubt  the  commissioners  were  liberal  and  ac- 
cepted approximate  answers,  say  within  a  few  hundred 
years,  as  correct.  In  spelling,  furthermore,  the  failures 
were  not  in  technical  words  or  in  those  of  rare  occurrence, 
but  in  those  of  every-day  use. 

The  commission  had  arranged  the  standards  with  the 
heads  of  various  offices  and  the  examinations  were  held 
separately  for  each  office.  Some  standards  were  higher 
than  others.  The  indispensable  requirements  were  almost 
everywhere  the  same  —  dictation,  English  composition, 
arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  and  precis.  The  optional  subjects, 
which   were  certified   by   the  commission   only   when   the 

of  the  history  answers  were  published  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission 
(Second  Report,  Parliamentary  Papers,  1857  [sess.  i]  vol.  iii).  E.  G.: 
"  The  Star  Chamber  consisted  of  twelve  members,  whose  business  it 
was  to  invent  torments  for  the  prisoners  whom  they  thought  was 
against  the  safety  of  the  country."  "  Trial  of  ordeal  were  employed 
in  the  trial  of  Warren  Hastings,  and  were  legally  prohibited  in  the 
reign  of  George  I."  "  George  II  is  the  sovereign  to  whom  the  name  of 
the  English  Justinian  has  been  sometimes  applied."  "  Marlborough 
fought  against  the  Spanish  Armada  and  completely  destroyed  it  in 
Elizabeth's  reign."  "  William  the  Conqueror  was  a  king  who  intro- 
duced many  good  laws  into  England;  learning  and  all  sorts  of  science 
flourished  under  him."  Also  that  William  the  Conqueror  was  "  a  pas- 
sionate man,  rather  inclined  to  tyranny,  much  beloved,  however,  by  his 
subjects,  a  kind  father,  and  a  faithful  husband."  "The  Roman  Walls 
were  built  to  keep  the  Tartars  from  invading  the  country,  and  were 
so  thick  that  two  carriages  could  be  driven  abreast."  "  Henry  VIII 
divorced  Catherine  of  Arragon  in  order  to  marry  Lady  Jane  Grey," 
etc. 


93]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  93 

indispensable  examinations  had  been  passed,  varied.  Al- 
most every  office  included  Latin  or  one  foreign  language, 
and  English  history  as  optional  subjects. 

The  Colonial  Office  set  the  example  of  real  limited  com- 
petition. Mr.  Labouchere  arranged  an  examination  with 
the  Civil  Service  Commission,  divided  into  two  parts,  the 
first  qualifying  and  consisting  of  handwriting,  spelling, 
arithmetic,  geography,  and  translation  from  German, 
Latin,  French,  or  some  other  language,  and  precis.  The 
second  and  competitive  part  consisted  of  three  of  the  fol- 
lowing subjects — languages  and  literature  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  languages  and  literature  of  France,  Germany,  and 
Italy  (required  for  the  home  Colonial  Office),  geology, 
chemistry,  and  English   (required  for  Ceylon  writers). 

The  Civil  Service  Commission  Office  and  Admiralty  were 
not  far  behind  the  Colonial  Office  in  offering  optional  sub- 
jects, which  soon  became,  by  reason  of  competition,  re- 
quisites. The  majority  of  offices,  however,  had  the  lower 
standards  first  mentioned.  The  Customs  Department  es- 
pecially was  obdurate.  Here  the  Civil  Service  Commission 
showed  their  tact  and  finally  succeeded  in  getting  the  stand- 
ard raised  to  that  of  the  Internal  Revenue. 

The  fears  which  had  been  entertained  that  no  highly  edu- 
cated men  would  apply  were  from  the  first  dispelled.  In 
the  War  Office,  where  there  were  a  number  of  men  com- 
peting for  a  single  vacancy,  two  Cambridge  men,  one  a 
Wrangler,  were  adjudged  equal.  As  special  subjects,  one 
offered  Latin  and  mathematics,  the  other  bookkeeping, 
Spanish,  German,  Italian,  Latin,  and  Greek.  They  were 
both  appointed  and,  following  the  policy  of  emphasizing  the 
requisite  subjects,  the  man  who  stood  highest  in  arithmetic 
was  given  the  priority  of  rank.^ 

*  The  Civil  Service  Commission  opened  four  Junior  clerkships,  three 
beginning  with  £100  and  the  fourth  with  £200  a  year,  to  competition. 


g4  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [g4 

The  Civil  Service  Commission  set  about  quietly  to  stand- 
ardize age  limits,  and  rules  as  to  physical  condition  and 
character.  The  age  limits  varied  from  17  to  45.  The 
commission  set  up  18  to  25  as  a  future  standard. 

This  report,  and  the  subsequent  reports  of  the  com- 
mission, silenced  criticism.  It  was  seen  that  the  new  scheme 
was  a  vast  improvement  over  the  old.  But  the  reformers 
had  as  yet  made  little  headway.  The  existing  examina- 
tions furnished  a  method  of  excluding  the  incompetent. 
There  was  no  open  competition  anywhere.  Only  five 
offices  made  a  point  of  nominating  over  three  members 
for  a  vacancy,  and  many  of  the  nominees  were  proved  ut- 
terly ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of  spelling  and  writing. 
Of  1,078  applicants  mentioned  in  the  first  report,  676 
passed,  and  309  were  rejected  mostly  for  conspicuous  ig- 
norance of  the  three  R's.  Intellectual  qualifications  were 
tested  ony  when  candidates  subjected  themselves  to  volun- 
tary examination  in  special  subjects.  For  the  majority  of 
vacancies  there  were  still  absolute  nominations.  The  Civil 
Service  Commission  said :  "  Many  inferior  appointments 
are  made,  without  personal  knowledge  of  the  fitness  of  the 
party,  on  the  recommendation  of  some  other  person,  who  is 
desirous  not  of  supplying  the  public  with  a  useful  official, 
but  of  making  a  competent  provision  for  a  friend." 

In  1856  the  reformers,  emboldened  by  their  first  success, 

The  competition  was  known  only  to  a  few  heads  of  schools  and  to 
others  to  whom  it  had  been  casually  mentioned.  Forty-four  candi- 
dates appeared,  the  sons  of  professional  men  and  "  independent  gentle- 
men." Twenty-five  were  graduates  of  universities,  and  sixteen  came 
from  large  public  schools.  Four  passed  good  examinations  in  four 
languages,  twenty-seven  in  more  than  one  foreign  language,  and  this 
proficiency  in  higher  subjects  was  generally  combined  with  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  elementary  practical  subjects.  Evidently  there 
was  no  dearth  of  candidates  of  respectable  family  and  sound  education, 
who  were  ready  to  come  forward  and  compete  if  patronage  did  not 
bar  the  way.     Second  Report  of  Civil  Service  Commission. 


95]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  oc 

again  brought  up  the  subject  of  open  competition  in  the 
House  of  Commons.'  Viscount  Goderich  was  spokesman 
and  his  motion  was  seconded  by  Sir  Stafford  Northcote. 
The  motion  was:  "If  Her  Majesty  shall  see  fit  to  make 
trial  in  the  Civil  Service  of  the  method  of  open  competi- 
tion as  a  condition  of  entrance,  this  House  will  cheerfully 
provide  for  any  charges  which  the  adoption  of  that  system 
may  entail." 

This  was  opposed  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
Sir  G.  C.  Lewis,  who  urged  that  individual  responsibility 
of  various  heads  of  departments  would  be  lost. 

If  you  remove  all  limitations  to  the  competition  for  appoint- 
ments, you  will  relieve  all  the  members  of  the  government 
from  any  responsibility  with  regard  to  appointments  made  in 
the  respective  departments  of  which  we  are  at  the  head.  The 
plan  ...  of  my  noble  friend  would  get  rid  of  the  important 
security  of  the  individual  responsibility  of  the  head  of  each 
Department  with  regard  to  the  character  of  the  candidates. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  emphasize  the  fallacy  of  this 
argument.  The  fact  was  that  the  majority  of  nominees 
were  people  quite  unknown  to  the  minister  or  parliamentary 
secretary,  whose  individual  responsibility  was  usually  im- 
aginary.^ 

One  of  the  arguments  emphasized  in  the  debate  was 
that  an  open  civil  service  would  constitute  itself  a  domin- 
ating bureaucracy.     Gladstone  made  an  eloquent  reply.^ 

^  Hansard,  April  24,  1856.  pp.  1401,  et  seq. 

'  Sir  George  Lewis  argued  against  the  motion  on  another  ground. 
He  claimed  that  while  the  crown  had  the  right  to  introduce  limited 
competition,  open  competition  was  an  entire  innovation  which  could 
be  properly  carried  only  through  an  Act  of  Parliament.  But  Sir 
George  knew  that  the  motion  was  merely  one  of  approval. 

»  Ibid. 


96  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [96 

In  England  we  need  not  be  afraid  to  make  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice too  powerful.  In  France  and  Germany  they  fear  this; 
for  in  countries  where  you  have  not  got  free  institutions  in  full 
vigor  and  unfettered  action,  it  may  be  a  question  whether  it 
is  desirable  to  concentrate  all  administrative  and  political  power 
in  a  single  class;  but  if  I  am  told  that  in  such  a  country  as 
ours  there  is  a  danger  of  making  the  Civil  Service  too  strong 
for  the  safety  of  the  State,  my  answer  is  that  the  Commons 
of  England  are  strong  enough  to  prevent  the  growth  of  any 
power  that  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  safety  and  liberties  of 
the  people.  As  long  as  the  House  of  Commons  continues  to 
possess  the  strength  it  has  derived  from  its  origin,  its  history, 
and  its  character,  it  is  idle,  pusilanimous  and  womanish  to  talk 
with  terror  about  making  the  Civil  Service  so  strong  in  skill 
and  knowledge  that  it  may  be  likely  to  interfere  with  the  free 
action  and  institutions  of  the  country.  England  happily  occu- 
pies in  this  respect  a  different  position  from  other  countries. 
In  certain  continental  States  the  experiment  may  be  perilous, 
but  in  England  you  may  make  the  Civil  Service  as  strong  as 
you  please — confident  that  the  stronger  you  make  it  the  more 
competent  will  you  render  it  for  the  satisfactory  transaction 
of  the  public  business.  The  invitation  is  merely  to  make  fur- 
ther trial,  the  result  of  which,  as  introduced  in  a  modified  form, 
has  been  such  as  to  encourage  you  to  proceed. 

Gladstone's  eloquent  plea  helped  to  carry  the  motion, 
but  Sir  George  Lewis  took  no  action  and  simply  ignored 
the  vote.  For  a  year  nothing  further  was  heard  of  open 
competition. 

In  1857,  nothing  daunted,  Viscount  Goderich  reintro- 
duced his  motion  of  1856  and  carried  it. 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  the  experi- 
ence acquired  since  the  issuing  of  the  Order  in  Council  of  the 
2ist  of  May,  1855,  is  in  favour  of  adoption  of  the  principle 
of  competition  as  a  condition  of  entrance  to  the  Civil  Service, 
and  that  the  application  of  that  principle  ought  to  be  extended 


97]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  07 

in  conformity  with  the  Resolution  of  the  House,  agreed  to  on 
24th  day  of  April,  1856. 

Palrrterston  agreed — not  to  open  competition,  btit  to  lim- 
ited competition  among  a  number  of  approved  candidates. 
Goderich  rather  lamely  accepted  this  interpretation  and  the 
debate  ended  with  matters  much  as  before. 

It  is  a  way  an  experienced  minister  has  of  silencing  an 
eloquent  and  inexperienced  opponent:  After  all  we  both 
mean  the  same  thing,  there  is  no  real  difference  of  prin- 
ciple, merely  a  difference  of  language  and  definition.  We 
agree  etc.,  etc.  The  Ministry  will  do  everything  in  its 
power  to  further  this  excellent  motion,  etc.,  etc.  The 
ambitious  gentlemen  of  the  Opposition,  somewhat  stag- 
gered, accepts  the  minister's  apparent  conversion  with  cor- 
dial enthusiasm.  The  motion  is  passed  as  interpreted  by 
the  minister — and  half  an  hour  later  when  the  House  is 
appropriately  discussing  the  Sleeping  Sickness  in  Uganda, 
the  eager  young  man  suddenly  realizes  that  the  bland  sup- 
port of  the  minister  has  really  crippled  his  motion. 

One  important  assistance  Parliament  did  give  to  the  cause 
of  reform.  In  1859  the  existing  arrangements  regarding 
superannuation,  which  consisted  of  periodical  deductions 
from  already  slender  wages,  were  changed.  The  important 
feature  of  the  new  Superannuation  Law  was  that  its  bene- 
fits were  restricted  to  civil  servants  who  had  entered  the 
service  zvith  the  certificate  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 
Thus  another  door  was  banged  in  the  face  of  backstairs 
employees.  But  had  there  been  no  provision  for  certifica- 
ticn  save  by  examination,  an  important  class  of  higher  offi- 
cials appointed  from  public  life,  would  have  lost  their  pen- 
sions. Thus  Clause  4  of  the  Superannuation  Act  of  1859 
enacted  that  such  persons  shall  be  eligible  for  pensions.' 

1 22   Victoria,    c.    26.     Clause    IV   provided :    Commissioners   of   the 


98  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [gg 

Let  us  see  now  what  actual  progress  competition  had 
made  between  1855  ^^'^  1860/  In  1858  there  were  230 
competitions  with  647  candidates.  Thus  the  number  of 
competitors  did  not  average  three  candidates  for  a  vacancy. 
There  were  962  places  allotted  without  competition  by  a 
qualifying  examination  or  without  it.  Of  these  962  places. 
335  were  clerkships  in  the  upper  division  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice. Below  the  grade  of  clerkships  there  was  no  competi- 
tion at  all.  The  Excise  officers — numerically  an  import- 
ant part  of  the  civil  service,  and  discharging  duties  of  a 
higher  order — were  appointed  by  patronage.  Not  only 
was  the  service  cheated  of  the  benefits  of  competition, 
but  the  anticipated  effect  on  the  education  of  the  masses, 
was  lost.  It  was  only  by  applying  the  principle  of  com- 
petition to  places  for  which  the  humbler  people  were  can- 
Treasury  may  decide  that  professional  or  other  peculiar  qualifications 
not  to  be  acquired  in  the  public  service  are  required  and  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  public,  persons  over  age  at  which  public  service  begins 
may  be  appointed,  and  such  a  person  on  retirement  may  have  added  to 
his  service  a  number  of  years  not  exceeding  20,  and  the  period  of  ser- 
vice required  to  entitle  him  to  superannuation  may  be  fixed  by  order 
or  warrant  at  less  than  10,  and  superannuation  may  be  granted  even 
though  he  does  not  hold  appointment  directly  from  the  Crown,  or  may 
not  have  entered  with  a  certificate  from  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

Clause  XVII  enacted  that  no  person  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been 
in  the  permanent  civil  service  of  the  state  unless  he  holds  his  appoint- 
ment directly  from  the  Crown  or  has  been  admitted  to  the  civil  ser- 
vice with  a  certiUcate  from  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

^  From  1854-1859,  10,860  nominees  were  examined.  Of  these  nomi- 
nations 8,039  were  of  one  candidate  only,  i.  e.,  qualifying  non-competi- 
tive examination.  The  2,821  competitors  were  competing  for  732  ap- 
pointments, i.  e.,  four  to  one.  In  1859,  391  competed  for  nine  clerkships 
in  the  India  office — the  only  example  of  open  competition.  Certifi- 
cates were  granted  to  5,705;  1,972  were  rejected  in  examinations,  all 
but  106  for  deficiency  in  arithmetic  and  spelling;  507  were  rejected  for 
health,  character,  and  age.  The  examinations  were  mostly  of  clerks. 
Excise  officers,  tidewaiters,  and  letter  carriers.  Parliamentary  Papers, 
i860,  xxiv. 


99]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  no 

didates  that  any  considerable  effect  upon  popular  educa- 
tion could  be  produced/ 

The  Civil  Service  Commission  commented  on  the  fact 
that  the  old  system  of  patronage  still  flourished.  They 
urged  that  there  should  be  at  least  three  candidates  for 
each  vacancy.  They  pointed  with  satisfaction  to  the  action 
of  Lord  Stanley  in  throwing  open  clerkships  in  the  London 
India  Office  to  competition  with  the  result  that  there  were 
over  300  candidates  for  eight  places. 

Even  where  there  was  competition,  it  was  often  illusory. 
Thus  under  the  system  of  examining  for  each  office  separ- 
ately, it  often  happened  that  the  winner  achieved  a  nominal 
victory  over  hopelessly  stupid  rivals  who  were  sometimes 
nominated  merely  to  simulate  a  race,  and  then  retire  from 
the  contest.  Among  the  blind  the  one-eyed  man  is  king. 
Thus  a  prominent  civil  servant  tells  how  he  entered  the 
civil  service : 

It  was  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1859  that,  fresh  from 
Marlborough,  I  distinguished  myself  by  gaining  first  place  in  a 
competition  held  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission  for  a  clerk- 
ship in  the  Privy  Council  Office.  Frankness  compels  me  to  add 
that  the  two  other  nominees  (required  by  the  regulations  to 
make  up  the  prescribed  number  of  three)  may  have  been  the 
special  couple  known  as  the  "  Treasury  Idiots  "  who  could  not 
pass  anything  and  were  sent  up  to  give  a  walkover  to  any  min- 
ister's protege  able  to  reach  the  minimum  qualifications.     At 

^  See  National  Association  for  Promotion  of  Social  Sciences,  vol. 
1859,  PP-  274-286.  Even  so,  the  stimulus  virhich  examinations,  especially 
the  optional  ones,  gave  to  education  was  considerable,  though  it  did 
not  touch  the  masses.  King's  College,  London,  opened  a  department 
of  Civil  Service  and  Commerce,  with  courses  in  Latin,  American  his- 
tory, mathematics,  English  literature,  modern  history,  geography, 
French,  German,  law,  etc.,  for  prospective  civil  service  candidates  and 
for  commercial  aspirants.    Cf.  London  Times.  April  20,  1854. 


lOO  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [iqo 

any  rate,  they  could  hardly  read  and  write,  and  so  I  found 
myself  entitled  to  a  desk  at  Downing  Street.' 

The  most  acute  criticism  of  the  existing  service  was  that 
of  John  Stuart  Mill,  the  economist  and  social  reformer, 
who  spent  the  better  part  of  his  life  as  a  civil  servant  in 
the  India  House.  He  had  intimate  personal  experience 
of  the  civil  service ;  he  was  a  philosopher  whose  view  em- 
braced all  the  theory  and  practice  of  political  science.  Thus 
beyond  most  of  his  contemporaries  in  and  out  of  the  ser- 
vice, he  comprehended  the  subject  of  competitive  examina- 
tion in  its  threefold  significance^ — to  efficiency,  to  political 
honesty,  and  to  popular  education. 

Being,  as  a  rule,  appointed  at  the  commencement  of  manhood, 
not  as  having  learnt,  but  in  order  that  they  may  learn,  their 
profession,  the  only  thing  by  which  the  best  candidates  can  be 
discriminated,  is  proficiency  in  the  ordinary  branches  of  liberal 
education :  and  this  can  be  ascertained  without  difficulty,  pro- 
vided there  be  the  requisite  pains  and  the  requisite  impartiality 
in  those  who  are  appointed  to  inquire  into  it.  Neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  can  reasonably  be  expected  from  a  minister ;  who 
must  rely  wholly  on  recommendations,  and  however  disinter- 
ested as  to  his  personal  wishes,  never  will  be  proof  against  the 
solicitations  of  persons  who  have  the  power  of  influencing  his 
own  election,  or  whose  political  adherence  is  important  to  the 
ministry  to  which  he  belongs.  These  considerations  have  intro- 
duced the  practice  of  submitting  all  candidates  for  first  ap- 
pointments to  a  public  examination,  conducted  by  persons  not 
engaged  in  politics,  and  of  the  same  class  and  quality  with 
the  examiners  for  honours  at  the  Universities.  This  would 
probably  be  the  best  plan  under  any  system;  and  under  our 
parliamentary  government  it  is  the  only  one  which  affords  a 
chance,  I  do  not  say  of  honest  appointment,  but  even  of 
abstinence  from  such  as  are  manifestly  and  flagrantly  profligate. 

•  Herbert  Preston-Thomas,  The  Work  and  Play  of  a  Government 
Inspector. 


lOl]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  lOi 

It  is  also  absolutely  necessary  that  the  examinations  should  be 
competitive,  and  the  appointments  given  to  those  who  are  most 
successful.  A  mere  passing  examination  never,  in  the  long 
run,  does  more  than  exclude  dunces.  When  the  question,  in 
the  mind  of  the  examiner,  lies  between  blighting  the  prospects 
of  an  individual,  and  neglecting  a  duty  to  the  public  which, 
in  the  particular  instance,  seldom  appears  of  first-rate  impor- 
tance, and  when  he  is  sure  to  be  bitterly  reproached  for  doing 
the  first ; .  .  .  while  in  general  no  one  will  either  know  or  care 
whether  he  has  done  the  latter ;  the  balance,  unless  he  is  a  man 
of  very  unusual  stamp,  inclines  to  the  side  of  good  nature.  A 
relaxation  in  one  instance  establishes  a  claim  to  it  in  others, 
which  every  repetition  of  indulgence  makes  it  more  difficult 
to  resist ;  each  of  these  in  succession  becomes  a  precedent  for 
more,  until  the  standard  of  proficiency  sinks  gradually  to 
something  almost  contemptible.  .  .  .  Where  there  is  no  induce- 
ment to  exceed  a  certain  minimum,  the  minimum  comes  to  be 
the  maximum :  it  becomes  the  general  practice  not  to  aim  at 
more.  .  . .  When,  on  the  contrary,  the  appointments  are  given  to 
those,  among  a  great  number  of  candidates,  who  must  distin- 
guish themselves,  and  where  the  successful  competitors  are 
classed  in  order  of  merit,  not  only  each  is  stimulated  to  do  his 
very  utmost,  but  the  influence  is  felt  in  every  place  of  liberal 
education  throughout  the  country.  It  becomes  with  every 
schoolmaster  an  object  of  ambition,  and  an  avenue  to  success, 
to  have  furnished  pupils  who  have  gained  a  high  place  in  these 
competitions ;  and  there  is  hardly  any  other  mode  in  which  the 
State  can  do  so  much  to  raise  the  quality  of  educational  insti- 
tutions throughout  the  country.  Though  the  principle  of  com- 
petitive examinations  for  public  employment  is  of  such  recent 
introduction  in  this  country,  and  is  still  so  imperfectly  carried 
out,  the  Indian  service  being  as  yet  nearly  the  only  case  in 
which  it  exists  in  its  completeness,  a  sensible  effect  has  already 
begun  to  be  produced  on  the  places  of  middle-class  educa- 
tion; notwithstanding  the  difficulties  which  the  principle  has 
encountered  from  the  disgracefully  low  existing  state  of  edu- 
cation in  this  country,  which   these  very  examinations  have 


I02  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [102 

brought  into  strong  light.  So  contemptible  has  the  standard 
of  acquirement  been  found  to  be,  among  the  youths  who  obtain 
the  nomination  from  the  minister .  .  .  that  the  competition  of 
such  candidates  produces  almost  a  poorer  result,  than  would 
be  obtained  from  a  mere  pass  examination;  ...  it  is  said 
that  successive  years  show  on  the  whole  a  decline  of  attain- 
ments, less  effort  being  made,  because  the  results  of  former 
examinations  have  proved  that  the  exertions  then  used  were 
greater  than  would  have  been  sufficient  to  attain  the  object. 
...  we  have  it  on  the  word  of  the  Commissioners  that  nearly 
all  who  have  been  unsuccessful  have  owed  their  failure  to 
ignorance  not  of  the  higher  branches  of  instruction,  but  of  its 
very  humblest  elements — spelling  and  arithmetic. 

The  outcries  which  continue  to  be  made  against  these  ex- 
aminations, by  some  of  the  organs  of  opinion,  are  of  ten,  I  regret 
to  say,  as  little  creditable  to  the  good  faith  as  to  the  good 
sense  of  the  assailants.  They  proceed  partly  by  misrepresen- 
tation of  the  kind  of  ignorance,  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
actually  leads  to  failure  in  the  examinations.  They  quote 
with  emphasis  the  most  recondite  questions  which  can  be  shown 
to  have  been  ever  asked,  and  make  it  appear  as  if  unexcep- 
tionable answers  to  all  these  were  made  the  sine  qua  non  of 
success.  Yet  it  has  been  repeated  to  satiety,  that  such  ques- 
tions are  not  put  because  it  is  expected  of  every-one  that  he 
should  answer  them,  but  in  order  that  whoever  is  able  to  do 
so  may  have  the  means  of  proving  and  availing  himself  of  that 
portion  of  his  knowledge.  It  is  not  as  a  ground  of  rejection, 
but  as  an  additional  means  of  success,  that  this  opportunity  is 
given.  We  are  then  asked  whether  the  kind  of  knowledge 
supposed  in  this,  that,  or  the  other  question,  is  calculated  to  be 
of  any  use  to  the  candidate  after  he  has  attained  his  object. 
People  differ  greatly  in  opinion  as  to  what  knowledge  is  use- 
ful. .  .  .  About  one  thing  the  objectors  seem  to  be  unanimous, 
that  general  mental  cultivation  is  not  useful  in  these  employ- 
ments, whatever  else  may  be  so.  If,  however  (as  I  presume 
to  think),  it  is  useful,  or  if  any  education  at  all  is  useful,  it 
must  be  tested  by  the  tests  most  likely  to  show  whether  the 


103]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  T03 

candidate  possesses  it  or  not.  To  ascertain  whether  he  has 
been  well  educated,  he  must  be  interrogated  in  the  things 
which  he  is  likely  to  know  if  he  has  been  well  educated,  even 
though  not  directly  pertinent  to  the  work  to  which  he  is  to  be 
appointed.  Will  those  who  object  to  his  being  questioned  in 
classics  and  mathematics,  in  a  country  where  the  only  things 
regularly  taught  are  classics  and  mathematics,  tell  us  what  they 
would  have  him  questioned  in?  There  seems,  however,  to  be 
equal  objection  to  examining  him  in  these,  and  to  examining 
him  in  anything  hut  these.  .  .  .  Nothing  will  satisfy  the  ob- 
jectors but  free  admission  of  total  ignorance. 

We  are  triumphantly  told,  that  neither  Clive  nor  Welling- 
ton could  have  passed  the  test  which  is  prescribed  for  an 
aspirant  for  an  engineer  cadetship.  As  if,  because  Clive  and 
Wellington  did  not  do  what  was  not  required  of  them,  they 
could  not  have  done  it  if  it  had  been  required.  If  it  be  only 
meant  to  inform  us  that  it  is  possible  to  be  a  great  general 
without  these  things,  so  it  is  without  many  other  things  which 
are  very  useful  to  great  generals.  .  .  .  We  are  next  informed 
that  bookworms,  a  term  which  seems  to  be  held  applicable 
to  whoever  has  the  slightest  tincture  of  book-knowledge,  may 
not  be  good  at  bodily  exercise,  or  have  the  habits  of  a  gentle- 
man. This  is  a  very  common  line  of  remark  with  dunces  of 
condition ;  but  whatever  the  dunces  may  think,  they  have  no 
monopoly  of  either  gentlemanly  habits  or  bodily  activity. 
Wherever  these  are  needed,  let  them  be  inquired  into,  and  sep- 
arately provided  for,  not  to  the  exclusion  of  mental  quali- 
fications, but  in  addition.^ 

The  time  had  come  for  a  second  investigation  into  the 
civil  service  to  see  what  progress  had  been  made  under  the 
new  order  of  things.  The  Civil  Service  Commission  had 
weeded  out  numerous  dunces.  Limited  competition  was  a 
great  improvement  but  few  offices  made  any  attempt  to  in- 
sure honest  competition,  and  the  majority  of  places,  par- 

M-  S.  Mill.  Representative  Government  (London,  1876),  pp.  108.  109. 


I04  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [104 

ticularly  in  the  lower  branches  of  the  service,  were  filled 
by  single  nomination.  The  recommendations  of  North- 
cote  and  Trevelyan  were  still  mere  paper — there  was  no 
open  competition  with  high  standards,  no  division  of  the 
service  according  to  intellectual  and  mechanical  labor,  no 
promotion  by  merit  and  no  attempt  to  grade  the  service 
as  a  whole.  Classification  of  the  service  was  haphazard 
and  ill-defined.  Since  the  introduction  of  limited  com- 
petition able  and  highly  educated  young  men  had  been 
attracted  into  offices  which  made  no  special  provision  for 
their  ability,  assimilated  them  with  mere  clerks,  and  gave 
them  no  hope  of  promotion  to  responsible  positions.  The 
attempts  which  had  been  made  to  give  the  most  mechanical 
work,  mere  copying  to  a  pariah  class  of  ill-paid  human  ma- 
chines, had  provoked  widespread  discontent  and  criticism. 

Still,  reform  had  made  great  strides.  The  House  of 
Commons  had  put  itself  on  record  as  fa,voring  the  exten- 
sion of  the  principle  of  competition.  If  it  had  not  been 
proved  that  the  public  should  have  the  right  to  compete  for 
the  public  services,  it  had  at  least  been  demonstrated  that 
honest  competition  was  better  than  patronage  and  that  open 
competition,  where  it  had  been  attempted,  introduced  the 
most  efficient  men.  The  question  of  reform  which  had 
been  obscured  by  fierce  controversies,  was  beginning  to 
stand  out  in  the  clear  cold  light  of  reason,  if  not  in  the 
sunshine  of  common  sense. 

Horace  Mann,  secretary  of  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion, put  the  matter  tersely : 

The  question  now  stands  pretty  clear  of  all  the  real  and 
imputed  extravagancies  of  its  advocates  and  opponents.  Few 
persons  now  really  believe  that  the  friends  of  competition 
rely  upon  it  as  an  infallible  test  of  official  aptitude,  or  as  any- 
thing more  than  the  best  available  test ;  nor  are  there  many 
persons  who  really  believe  that  such   infallible  guarantee  is 


105]  EXAMINATION  INTRODUCED  105 

secured  when  the  Secretary  to  the  Treasury  appoints  an  un- 
known youth,  upon  the  mere  recommendation  of  a  political 
friend  to  whom  he  is  equally  unknown.  .  .  .  The  only  ques- 
tion .  .  .  now  is  as  to  the  extent  to  which  the  plan,  thus 
generally  appreciated,  should  be  adopted,  and  the  rate  at 
which  we  should  proceed  in  the  work.^ 

1  Transactions,   National   Association   for   the  Promotion   of   Social 
Science,  vol.  iii,  p.  279. 


CHAPTER  V 

John  Bright  and  Others  Investigate,  i860 — Open 
Competition  Introduced,  1870 

"  The  opening  of  the  civil  and  military  services,  in  its  in- 
fluence upon  national  education,  is  equivalent  to  a  hundred 
thousand  scholarships  and  exhibitions  of  the  most  valuable 
kind — because  unlike  such  rewards  in  general,  they  are  for  life 
— offered  for  the  encouragement  of  youthful  learning  and 
good  conduct  in  every  class  of  the  community." — Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan.    Letter  to  Mr.  Eaton. 


The  House  of  Commons  awoke  from  the  usual  period 
of  indifference  to  the  existence  of  the  civil  service  reform 
question.  It  could  not  be  said  that  the  question  was  acute 
The  service  was  conscientious  and  fairly  efficient,  but  the 
supporters  of  open  competition  were  increasing  and  the 
opponents  of  patronage  were  beginning  to  arouse  demo- 
cratic opinion  against  it.  There  were,  in  fact,  two  classes 
who  favored  open  competition,  differing  in  emphasis :  those 
who  favored  open  competition  because  they  were  sure  that 
it  would  improve  the  service,  and  those  in  favor  of  it  be- 
cause they  thought  that  the  service  should  be  open  to  the 
public.  The  history  of  the  English  civil  service  is  pecu- 
liarly valuable  because  it  proves  that  these  two  ideals  are 
identical,  that  the  public  service  should  be  open  to  public 
competition,  and  that  public  competition  recruits  the  most 
efficient  civil  service. 

The  Estimates  Debate  of  i860  gave  the  civil  service  re- 
formers their  annual  opportunity  to  taunt  the  Ministry  for 
106  [106 


lo;]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  107 

inaction.  A  certain  Mr.  Hennessey  moved  for  a  commit- 
tee to  investigate  the  methods  of  attracting  men  into  the 
service.  He  said  that  he  had  tried  to  get  one  of  his  con- 
stituents on  the  nominating  list  but,  being  an  independent 
member,  had  failed.  The  Ministry  opposed  Mr.  Hen- 
nessey. Even  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  said  that  the  time 
was  not  ripe  for  inquiry.  A  Treasury  Under  Secretary 
again  brought  out  the  startling  fact  that  competition  had 
been  attempted  only  in  China,  and  Palmerston,  probably 
caught  unawares,  said  something  about  the  danger  of  at- 
tracting all  first  class  intelligence  into  the  civil  service 
to  the  permanent  detriment  of  the  independent  private 
concerns.^  Mr.  Roebuck  made  short  work  of  these  ob- 
jections. 

Suppose  A  B,  one  of  my  constituents,  comes  to  me  and 
says,  '  I  have  a  son  whom  I  want  to  compete  for  a  situation 
in  the  Home  Office.  Do  you  think  you  can  get  his  name  put 
down  for  me  ?'  I  answer,  '  I  have  no  doubt  of  that.  I  shall 
be  able  to  do  so.'  I  go  to  the  Home  Office  and,  because  I  am 
an  M.P.  I  get  what  I  ask  for.  But  that  is  not  open  compe- 
tition. Suppose  that  man  was  not  one  of  my  constituents. 
Suppose  he  was  a  person  of  no  importance  in  the  borough  or 
county  in  which  he  lived,  and  yet  had  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  wished  to  compete  for  a  public  appoint- 
ment;  if  he  did  not  know  an  M.P.  or  some  one  of  influence. 
he  would  have  no  more  chance  of  admission  to  this  competi- 
tion than  I  now  have  of  competing  for  the  seat  of  the  Great 
Mogul.  By  a  competitive  system  we  have  obtained  first-rate 
men  for  India.  And  what  harm  can  possibly  arise  from  this 
inquiry?  The  honorable  gentleman  says  this  subject  is  not 
ripe  for  inquiry.  What!  is  it  not  ripe  for  ascertaining  what 
the  present  practice  is?  For,  remember,  that  is  the  real  ques- 
tion before  us.     We  wish,  in  fact,  to  lay  bare  what  you  now 

'  Hansard,  February  16,  i860. 


I08  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [io8 

do  that  the  world  may  know  what  your  system  of  competition 
is,  which  I  denounce  here  as  an  absolute  sham,  covered  up 
under  a  stale  pretense. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to  and  a  committee  of  investiga- 
tion, including  Lord  Stanley,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  Mr. 
Roebuck,  Mr.  Bright,  Monckton  Milnes,  and  Robert  Low, 
was  appointed  to  inquire  into  nominations  and  examinations 
only  and  to  afford  greater  facility  for  the  admission  of 
properly  qualified  persons.^ 

At  this  point  ( i860)  a  table  of  persons  employed  in  the 
civil  service  may  not  be  uninteresting : 

I  Heads  of  Departments — political    34 

Heads  of  Departments — non-political    156 

n  Sub-heads  of  Departments  and  heads  of  branches 1,489 

Clerks — established  13,768 

Clerks — temporary     389 

in  Professional    officers — superior    1,922 

Professional  officers — inferior    l,92i 

rV  Inferior    officers — indoor    2,259 

Inferior  officers — outdoor    36,566 

V  Artisans  and  labourers   29,613 

VI  Persons  not  wholly  employed — women,  etc 14,94^ 

103,058 

The  first  and  sixth  classes  did  not  fall  under  the  cogniz- 
ance of  the  committee ;  nor  did  the  artisan  and  labourers ; 
nor  were  professional  examinations  closely  inquired  into, 
except  in  so  far  as  solicitors'  departments  were  concerned, 
and  here  the  committee  thought  that  no  system  attracts 
men  as  well  qualified  as  those  obtained  by  appointment  of 
persons  of  standing  in  their  professions.  The  investiga- 
tion dealt  with  clerks,  higher  and  lower,  and  inferior  officer'- 
such  as  excise  officers,  tidewaiters,  letter  carriers,  etc. 

1  Parliamentary  Papers,  i860,  ix,  referred  to  hereafter  as  i860  Report. 


log]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  109 

The  committee  began  on  the  supposition  that  the  higher 
clerks  enter  upon  routine  work  but  that  they  rise  to  influen- 
tial positions  in  the  offices  of  the  Treasury  and  secretaries 
of  state,  but  that  the  lower  clerks  are  chiefly  employed  in 
the  revenue  departments  where  intellectual  qualifications 
are  highly  desirable,  but  not  the  same  "  liberal  education, 
knowledge  of  men,  and  general  information  as  are  essen- 
tial in  higher  departments." 

The  committee  went  about  its  work  very  thoroughly, 
though  the  explicitness  of  questions  and  the  restriction  of 
the  inquiry  to  leading  members  of  the  civil  service,  gave 
little  opportunity  to  the  rank  and  file,  or  to  the  educator 
and  political  theorist,  to  air  grievances  and  paint  official 
Utopias.  Indeed  there  is  in  the  inquiry  none  of  the  fight 
and  rhetoric  of  the  first  discussion  of  1854,  nor  of  sub- 
sequent investigations. 

The  investigation  of  i860  showed  that  limited  com- 
petition was  successful  where  it  was  fairly  tried,  that  many 
of  the  opponents  of  open  competition  had  been  converted, 
but  that  there  were  still  a  considerable  number  of  officials 
who  feared  open  competition  and  laid  the  emphasis  upon 
personal  qualities  which  could  not  be  tested  by  an  academic 
education  at  all.  There  was  a  small  number  of  reaction- 
aries and  malcontents  who  were  constitutionally  wedded 
to  patronage.  These  had  never  given  competition  a  fair 
trial  in  their  departments,  and  grumbled  about  the  new 
clerks  who  had  not  been  under  observation  long  enough 
to  demonstrate  their  superiority. 

A  few  quotations  will  suffice  to  show  the  diversity  of 
opinions  and  to  indicate  the  logical  weakness  of  the  re- 
actionaries. 

Romilly.  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Audit,  granted  that 
there  had  been  a  decided  improvement  in  the  clerks  ad- 
mitted since  1855;  but  he  was  strenuously  opposed  to  the 


no  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [no 

introduction  of  unlimited  competition — there  being  no  re- 
sponsibility for  appointment  and  no  assurance  of  moral 
character  in  the  case  of  open  competition.  Mr.  Romilly 
thought  the  certificates  of  character  of  no  value.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  nominations  to  his  department  had  been 
made  singly  by  the  Treasury,  the  examinations  being  merely 
qualifying.  But  when  Mr.  Romilly  himself  was  examined 
he  showed  the  weakness  of  his  philosophy  of  patronage. 

Q.  Would  you  give  me  some  reason  which  would  justify 
your  belief  that  the  Treasury  are  in  any  way  competent  to  de- 
termine the  moral  qualities  of  a  man,  or  his  capacity  for  or 
his  willingness  to  work  in  his  department?  .  .  . 

A.  He  can  know  nothing  of  him  in  that  respect. 

O.  Therefore,  what  guarantee  is  there  or  any  security  for 
the  moral  qualifications  of  this  man? 

A.  I  do  not  think  that  there  is  any  full  security  at  all. 

Q.  Practically,  is  there  any? 

A.  I  think  that  you  are  more  likely  to  get  a  man  who  will 
do  his  duty  in  the  public  office  to  which  he  is  appointed  in  that 
way,  than  if  you  had  open  and  public  competition.^ 

Similarly,  Bromley,  the  Accountant  General  of  the  Navy, 
did  not  believe  in  competition.  He  believed  in  minimum 
standards  and  favored  examinations  graded  according  to 
the  age  of  nominees.  Throughout  his  testimony  he  showed 
the  bias  of  a  man  who  had  worked  his  way  up  from  the 
bottom  of  the  service.  He  disliked  the  higher  examin- 
ations which  did  not  exist  in  his  day.  Having  hmself 
been  frequently  transferred  or  promoted  from  department 
to  department,  he  believed  in  the  fusion  of  all  depart- 
ments into  one  service  and  free  transfer  therein."    Bromley 

1  i860  Report,  p.  201. 

»  This  proposal  comes  up  frequently.  It  was  first  suggested  in  1854 
by  Northcote  and  Trevelyan.    Apart  from  the  impossibility  of  putting 


Ill]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  y  j  i 

conceded  that  the  new  men  were  much  superior,  even  in 
their  devotion  to  the  details  of  office  work.  At  the  same 
time  he  hoped  that  the  link  of  patronage  between  the 
House  of  Commons  and  the  civil  service  would  never  be 
severed,  and  foresaw  bureaucracy  as  the  result  of  com- 
petition. 

I  trust  that  the  system  will  never  be  carried  to  open  com- 
petition. ...  As  an  old  public  servant,  I  hope  never  to  see  that 
kindred  feeling  or  tie  which  exists  between  Members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  the  public  service  severed.  My  be- 
lief is,  that  if  you  carry  the  system  forward  to  open  competi- 
tion, Members  of  the  House  of  Commons  will  in  time  lose  that 
interest  in  the  civil  service  which  they  now  in  a  great  degree 
feel  for  it.^ 

Parliament  and  the  civil  service  should  not  be  separ- 
ated, said  Mr.  Bromley.  Let  us  see  now  how  the  patron- 
age business  was  worked,  and  how  members  of  Parliament 
themselves  liked  it.  Mr.  Fremantle,  secretary  to  the 
Patronage  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  gave  most  arresting 

it  into  practice  on  a  large  scale,  it  is  radically  against  the  theory  of 
administrative  and  executive  cabinet  government.  The  temporary  ex- 
ecutive head  of  a  department,  the  Minister,  comes  w^ith  his  broad,  gen- 
eral experience  of  policies  from  public  life.  He  depends  for  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  intimate  workings  and  traditions  of  his  department  upon 
the  permanent  head  of  the  office.  If  this  permanent  head  is  to  be  a 
gypsy  head,  transferred  from  one  department  to  another,  the  Minister 
will  have  to  depend  in  turn  upon  a  still  lower  official  who  had  been, 
through  some  oversight,  permitted  to  remain  in  the  department  in 
question  long  enough  to  understand  its  economy  and  to  represent  its 
traditions.  This  is  a  dangerous  practice.  It  is  simply  creating  new 
strata  of  ministers.  It  is  quite  feasible,  though  by  no  means  always 
desirable,  to  transfer  younger  clerks  and  even  exceptionally  higher 
officials,  but  to  have  a  constantly  shifting  personnel  in  every  office  is 
unthinkable. 

1  i860  Report,  p.  224. 


112  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [112 

testimony    relative    to    petty    local    positions    under    the 
Treasury. 

Q.  Where  a  lower-class  office  is  vacant,  do  you  say  that 
you  generally  place  the  appointment  at  the  disposal  of  the 
sitting  Member? 

A    Yes. 

Q.  If  that  sitting  Member  did  not  happen  to  be  a  sup- 
porter of  the  Government,  as  a  general  practice,  is  it  sent  to 
him? 

A.  As  a  general  practice,  not  .  .  . 

O.  Is  there  any  reason  why  all  those  [tidewaiter]  persons 
in  a  particular  port  who  are  qualified  to  fill  that  office  should 
not  compete  for  it? 

A.  No,  except  that  I  should  not  consider  it  worth  while, 
for  the  situation  referred  to,  to  test  the  relative  qualifications 
of  20  or  30  candidates.  .  .  . 

O.  Have  you  very  frequently  heard  complaints  from 
Members  of  Parliament,  that,  although  this  was,  as  it  were, 
a  duty  which  they  could  not  escape,  yet  it  was  one  the  per- 
formance of  which  was  very  irksome,  and  which  did  them, 
politically  speaking,  damage  in  their  boroughs,  because  of  the 
number  of  people  whom  it  was  necessary  to  disappoint,  and 
of  the  very  few  who  could  be  satisfied? 

A.  We  have  received  many  such  complaints. 

0.  Do  you  believe,  generally,  that  Members  of  Parliament 
are  at  all  anxious  for  this  sort  of  patronage? 

A.  No. 

O.  Do  you  believe  that  it  is  at  all  necessary  that  the  Gov- 
ernment, for  any  of  those  purposes  of  strengthening  their  party, 
or  matters  which  you  will  thoroughly  well  understand,  and 
which  always  have  existed,  and  which  do  exist,  and  which 
have  been  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of  necessity,  should  have  in 
their  hands  patronage  of  this  kind,  or,  if  they  have  it  in  their 
hands,  should  entrust  it  at  all  for  any  political  purposes  to 
Members  of  Parliament. 


113]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  ^  ,^ 

A.  Certainly  not,  so  far  as  any  advantage  to  the  Govern- 
ment is  concerned. 

O.  In  your  opinion  this  system,  which  is  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  one  by  which  the  Government  of  the  day  gratifies 
its  supporters,  and  strengthens  its  own  hands,  answers  neither 
the  one  purpose  nor  the  other;  that  it  does  not  gratify  the 
supporters  of  the  Government,  and  does  not  strengthen  the 
hands  of  the  Government. 

A.  No.  I  think  this  has  even  been  more  the  case  since  the 
system  of  competitive  examinations  has  been  introduced. 

Q.  Are  you  aware  that  since  the  competitive  examinations 
have  been  introduced,  Members  of  Parliament  or  other  gentle- 
men who  have  recommended  to  you  candidates,  have  been  ex- 
ceedingly annoyed  by  complaints  from  unsuccessful  candidates? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  The  system,  according  to  your  experience,  is  one  full 
of  inconvenience  to  the  gentlemen  who  recommend,  and  is  of 
no  great  value  to  the  Government  ? 

A.  That  is  so.  .  .  . 

O.  Are  you,  then,  of  opinion  that  the  Government  ought 
to  abandon  that  patronage  ? 

A.  Certainly  not;  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  find 
candidates  for  the  appointments,  and  to  make  appointments 
to  the  public  service.^ 

1  i860  Report,  pp.  59,  60.  62,  63.  It  seems  that  the  Treasury  had 
arrogated  to  itself  the  right  of  nominations  in  the  Customs  and  Ex- 
cise departments.  For  instance,  formerly  the  commissioners  of  the 
Inland  Revenue  had  all  the  indoor  appointments  in  the  Excise.  In 
1830  the  Treasury  took  half;  in  1858  the  last  commissioner  who  had 
patronage  died,  and  the  Treasury  took  all  the  patronage  except  10  per 
cent  of  the  outdoor  offices  which  the  commissioner  was  allowed  to 
give  to  sons  of  employees.  Thus,  in  the  Excise  Department  at  least, 
limited  competition  was  very  exceptional.  There  were  mostly  simple 
nominations  on  the  recommendations  of  members  of  Parliament  or 
of  the  cabinet,  for  which  no  one  was  accountable.  In  the  Land  Tax 
Department,  the  Land  Tax  Commissioners  were  appointed  by  parlia- 
mentary patronage,  and  these  in  turn  appointed  the  assessors,  who  in 
turn    appointed    the    collectors,    who   gave    security    for    collecting   the 


114  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [114 

Lingen,  the  secretary  to  the  Committee  of  the  Council 
on  Education,  favored  the  existing  system  of  division  into 
two  distinct  classes,  the  inspectors,  who  were  mostly  uni- 
versity men,  who  had  taken  high  honors  and  who  "  must 
be  persons  of  standing  in  society,"  and  a  second  clerical 
division  of  three  sections.  Lingen  saw  no  reason  why 
there  should  not  be  open  competition  for  the  lower  division, 
but  quite  irrationally  he  thought  open  competition  inap- 
plicable to  the  higher  division.  Strangely  enough,  this 
opinion  prevails  even  now  in  this  department  and  has 
staunch  supporters  in  present  and  former  secretaries. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Under  Secretary  for  the  Colonies, 
Merivale,  and  the  Under  Secretary  for  the  Home  Office, 
Waddington,  and  the  Registrar  General,  Graham,  had 
modified  their  views  since  1854.  Waddington  now  thought 
open  competition  fairer  to  the  public  and  had  no  fears 
on  the  score  of  moral  character,  but  he  thought  the  ex- 
pense and  difficulty  of  examining  hordes  of  candidates 
would  not  be  justified  by  the  results.  Merivale  still  op- 
posed competition  on  principle,  but  he  had  had  no  inef- 
ficient men  since  1854,  and  favored  an  extension  of  limited 
competition  at  any  rate.  Graham,  whose  office  had  form- 
erly been  a  sad  example  of  the  effects  of  unregulated 
patronage,^  gave  eloquent  testimony  to  the  improvements 

revenue.     These  last  were  often  dishonest,  and  their  bankruptcy  left 
the  government  without  a  remedy : 

Q.  "  And  the  subsequent  consequence  is  that  by  reason  of  these  col- 
lectors not  being  appointed  by  the  government,  but  appointed  by  private 
commissioners,  persons  are  re-taxed  for  the  amount  of  the  deficiencies 
incurred?"     A.  "Yes."     (Evidence  of  Sargent,  i860  Report.) 

^  His  office,  we  remember,  was  one  of  the  worst.  Suddenly  supple- 
mented in  1836,  when  the  registration  of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths 
came  into  effect,  this  office  was  filled  with  incompetents,  insolvent 
debtors,  the  diseased,  the  aged,  and  the  crippled.    In  the  course  of  time 


11-]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTROD UCED  1 1  ^ 

effected  by  competition,  and  now  declared  himself  in 
favor  of  open  competition,  with  perhaps  some  restriction, 
so  as  to  get  dependable  references. 

The  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  War,  Sir  Benjamin 
Hawes,  showed  that  the  right  to  compete  for  his  department 
was  very  freely  granted  to  applicants  even  without  any  poli- 
tical influence.  But  the  final  choice  rested  with  the  Secretary 
of  War,  and  Hawes  conceded  that  there  was  little  re- 
sponsibility for  it  and  that  the  moral  qualities  which  com- 
petition could  not  test,  were  not  assured  in  the  existing 
scheme  either.  In  Hawes'  department  the  method  of  a 
appointment  was  peculiarly  bad.  All  clerks  were  appointed 
as  temporary  clerks  for  one  month.  Then  they  went  to 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  for  a  certificate  and  were 
allowed  to  compete  for  permanent,  established  clerkships. 
Sometimes  as  many  as  sixty  competed  for  one  place.  This 
was  real  competition,  but  when  we  consider  that  clerks  com- 
peted again  and  again  for  the  establishment,  and  that  those 
who  did  not  succeed  were  still  employed  in  the  same  work 
as  the  established  clerk,  we  see  the  beginning  of  a  state  of 
affairs  which  was  to  cause  much  bitterness  throughout  this 
and  other  departments.  As  to  the  success  of  the  public 
school  and  university  men.  whose  adaptability  and  capacity 
for  drudgery  had  been  doubted,  Hawes  lent  eloquent 
testimony. 

O.  Have  you  the  means  of  testing  the  effect  of  competi- 
tive examination  different  from  those  which  most  offices 
have  ? 

A.  I  am  bound  to  say  that  men  who  have  obtained  honours 

Graham  succeeded  in  getting  many  of  them  removed.  After  twenty- 
four  years  only  the  seventeen  best  were  left,  two  deaf  and  dumb  men 
among  them  whom  Graham  liked  very  much  and  who  were  said  to  be 
very  competent. 


Il6  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [ii6 

at  Cambridge  or  at  Oxford,  or  at  public  schools,  who  have 
shown  themselves  superior  scholars,  and  who  have  succeeded 
in  obtaining  appointments,  have  formed  admirable  clerks;  I 
avoid  mentioning  names,  but  I  could  refer  to  instances  of  men 
who  have  not  flinched  from  the  official  drudgery,  and  who 
have  worked  themselves  into  the  office,  and  have  given  the 
greatest  possible  satisfaction.^ 

One  of  the  real  grievances  brought  out  in  the  report 
was  the  tendency  to  make  examination  standards  too  high, 
and  thus  to  attract  a  class  of  men  too  cultured  and  too 
ambitious  for  the  positions  and  prospects  open  to  them. 
This  was  especially  true  in  the  case  of  the  supplementary 
clerkships.  Naturally  enough  many  reactionaries  took  ad- 
vantage of  this  maladjustment  in  organization  and  examin- 
ation to  blame  the  unfavorable  results  on  competition  and 
to  see  an  additional  argument  against  its  extension. 

In  answer  to  questions  about  usefulness  of  clerks,  tide- 
waiters,  etc.,  appointed  since  the  Order  in  Council  of  May, 
1855,  a  Customs  officer  said: 

Having  had  several  clerks  under  my  supervision  who  have 
been  admitted  into  the  service  since  May,  1855,  and  also  several 
who  were  appointed  within  the  six  years  preceding  the  ex- 
aminations by  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners,  I  am  enabled  to 
state  that  I  have  not  found  that  the  former  display  any  greater 
energy  or  aptitude  for  business  than  the  latter ;  and,  although 
generally  tractable,  I  have  experienced,  both  personally  and 
towards  the  public,  a  self-sufficiency  and  presumption,  from  an 
imagined  superiority  in  having  undergone  such  examination, 
and  also  a  desire  for  literature  in  business,  that  I  have  been 
obliged  to  check. 

The  business  of  this  office  being  of  perfectly  routine  char- 
acter, and  in  many  branches  almost  mechanical,  no  superior 
mental  acquirement  is  needed ;  and  clerks  possessing  more  in- 

1  i860  Report,  p.  90. 


117]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  uy 

tellectual  capabilities  than  the  duties  demand  become  dissatis- 
fied with  its  monotony,  and  are  less  valuable  than  clerks  of 
sufficient  though  less  attainment.^ 

He  complained  that  the  civil  service  tidewaiters  and 
other  manual  laborers  recently  appointed  were  totally  un- 
fitted for  the  duties,  and  that  those  who  failed  w^re  often 
thoroughly  efficient  men  used  to  the  sea  from  boyhood. 

Anthony  Trollope  had  the  artist's  love  of  The  Three 
Clerks  who  dwelt  in  the  lights  and  shades  of  the  crazy 
shanties  and  back  alleys  of  the  old  Post  Office.  He  shud- 
dered at  the  notion  of  tearing  it  all  down,  and  constructing 
a  new  Post  Office  with  a  new  race  of  over-educated  prigs 
with  no  regard  for  the  good  old  days.  Trollope  and  Tilley, 
his  brother-in-law,  gave  evidence  for  the  Post  Office. 
Their  antagonism  to  open  competition,  even  to  extending 
limited  competition,   was   quite   unconcealed."     They   said 

^  i860  Report,  appendix,  p.  339. 

*  The  statistics  of  the  Post  Office  show  a  deplorable  confusion  in 
classification,  nomination  and  pay.  There  were  three  nominations  for 
one  vacancy  and  the  pay  ranged  from  i8o  to  £800.  Examinations  were 
conducted  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission.  Sorters  and  letter  car- 
riers were  chosen  by  pure  nomination  and  qualifying  examinations. 
The  Civil  Service  Commission  urged  a  higher  educational  test,  but  the 
Post  Office  authorities  steadily  refused.  The  Civil  Service  Commission 
characterized  the  qualifications  for  sorters,  letter  carriers,  etc.,  as : 
(i)  Writing  their  own  names  and  addresses. 

(2)  'Reading  the  addresses  of  letters. 

(3)  Adding  a  few  figures  together. 

Postmasters  in  London  and  large  towns  were  appointed  by  the  Post- 
master General ;  in  smaller  towns  by  the  Treasury.  No  examinations 
were  necessary. 

Postmasters  appointed  for  the  first  time  (who  had  not  been  in  the 
service  before  with  the  Civil  Service  Commission  certificate)  v/cre  not 
entitled  to  superannuation  under  the  Superannuation  Act  of  :859  (22 
Victoria,  ch.  26).     Hence  they  got  no  superannuation  benefits. 

A  number  of  auxiliary  letter  carriers  were  appointed,  some  of  whom 
never  went  before  the  Civil  Service  Commission  and  thus  remained  at 
9  shillings  a  week  and  did  not  qualify  for  superannuation. 

Letter  carriers  worked  47  hours  and  got  18  shillings  per  week  pay. 
(1861  Reports,  vol.  xix.) 


Il8  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [ug 

that  the  new  clerks  were  not  more  or  less  useful  than  be- 
fore and  came  from  the  same  class.  Some  who  had  passed 
higher  examinations  were  less  contented  and  less  good 
clerks  than  others,  some  not  as  well  trained.  Knowledge 
beyond  what  was  required  for  performance  of  duties  was 
not  advisable. 

They  had  no  objection  to  an  open  examination  in  which 
the  physical  qualities  were  emphasized — like  the  police  ex- 
amination— for  lower  positions,  but  not  for  clerkships. 
The  reason  given  for  this  distinction  was  that  qualities 
which  make  a  good  clerk  are  not  discoverable  by  ex- 
amination. They  believed  that  open  competition  would  in- 
troduce better  educated  but  less  efficient  men.  However,  it 
might  be  that  men  of  intelligence  were  needed. 

Trollope  and  Tilley  were  no  doubt  right  in  saying  that 
intellectual  talents  of  a  very  high  order  were  not  necessary 
in  the  Post  Office.  But  there  were  departments  in  which 
they  were  very  necessary.  For  instance,  in  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Solicitor  to  the  Board  of  Inland  Revenue. 
In  this  board  there  were  five  classes  of  clerks.  A  knowl- 
edge of  law  was  necessary  to  achieve  high  position,  and 
could  not  be  easily  learned  and  practiced  by  inexperienced 
minor  clerks. 

Here  was  a  case  in  which  there  was  need  of  higher  re- 
quirements— either  professional  or  academic.  The  solu- 
tion of  this  question  is  interesting.  How  should  the  Soli- 
citor's Office  attract  young  men  who  would  be  capable  of 
promotion  to  its  highest  positions?  It  was  only  very 
exceptionally  that  a  junior  clerk  qualified  himself  for 
the  higher  clerkships  without  having  entered  with  train- 
ing in  a  solicitor's  office.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was 
found  that  able  young  men  with  solicitor's  training  enter- 
ing the  lowest  positions,  were  for  some  time  forced  to  do 
mechanical  work  which  any  clerk  could  perform.     Under 


1 19]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  hq 

such  conditions  it  was  becoming  almost  impossible  to  get 
young  solicitors  of  ability  and  thus  it  was  often  necessary 
to  appoint  older  men,  usually  solicitors  of  standing,  directly 
to  superior  offices.  This  is  one  of  the  ever-recurring  prob- 
lems of  civil  service  in  every  country — the  greatest  problem 
of  the  national  civil  service  of  the  United  States. 

Evidently  there  are  three  ways  of  solving  it — first,  you 
may  divide  the  office  into  two  classes,  the  second  to  con- 
sist of  ordinary  clerks  who  do  not  expect  to  rise  to  the 
higher  division,  which  consists  of  men  with  a  legal  and 
academic  education  and  destined  for  the  highest  positions. 
This  is  the  German  system.  Again,  you  may  have  similar 
classes,  with  the  upper  division  recruited  from  university 
scholars  of  distinction  who  are  expected  to  acquire  the 
necessary  legal  knowledge  while  serving  their  apprentice- 
ship. This  is  the  system  which  was  finally  adopted  in 
England  and  has  proved  very  successful,  especially  where 
the  legal  knowledge — e.  g.  in  the  higher  clerical  work  of 
the  Inland  Revenue — is  incident  to  general  administrative 
and  clerical  ability  and  a  high  order  of  general  intelligence. 
There  is  a  third  method  in  vogue  in  Australia — that  of  at- 
tracting a  single  class  of  young  men  of  sound  high-school 
education,  and  giving  them,  either  entirely  in  government 
offices,  or  partly  in  government  offices  and  partly  in  uni- 
versity evening  courses,  the  necessary  academic  and  techni- 
cal education. 

The  American  system  is,  to  attract  a  very  miscellaneous 
and  often  ill-educated  division  of  clerks  by  quasi-competi- 
tive examinations  of  the  lowest  conceivable  standard,  and 
to  wait  in  vain  for  them  to  develop  first-rate  administra- 
tive ability.^ 

'  The  Department  of  Justice  is  a  conspicuous  exception.     In  the  first 
place  the  duties  here   are  entirely  legal — hence  only  men  with  legal 


I20  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [120 

The  most  interesting,  and  indeed  conclusive,  evidence 
as  to  actual  experience  of  open  competition  was  that  of 
an  ex-official  of  the  Privy  Council  Office.  He  showed  that 
in  an  obscure,  roundabout  way  open  competition  had  al- 
ready been  vindicated  in  the  civil  service.  It  seems  that 
Mr.  Chester  and  others  were  much  interested  in  an  examin- 
ing and  prize-giving  institution  known  as  the  Society  of 
Arts — which  was  founded  to  spread  knowledge  through 
the  middle  and  lower  classes.  Its  examinations  were  ab- 
solutely open ;  the  competitions  were  large ;  and  the  prizes 
and  publicity  stimulated  extraordinary  efforts.  Among 
the  successful  candidates  for  Society  of  Arts'  certificates 
were  merchants,  artisans,  bookkeepers,  engineers,  laborers, 
clerks,  mechanics,  etc.  A  chimney  sweep  got  a  certificate 
in  geometry ;  and  a  first  prize  in  Latin  was  awarded  to  an 
ambitious  butcher.  Palmerston,  Derby  and  others  fos- 
tered this  movement  by  giving  several  nominations  in  the 
civil  service — presumably  in  the  Privy  Council  Office — 
to  the  Society  of  Arts;  and  the  men  whom  the  society 
chose  to  compete  for  the  final  civil  service  examinations 
were  not  only  always  successful,  but  almost  always  first 
and  second  on  the  list,  and  became  exemplary  clerks.  Mr. 
Chester  pointed  to  this  record  and  pressed  home  the  con- 
clusion that  an  experiment  which  was  so  successful  on  a 
small  scale  certainly  deserved  further  trial.  Mr.  Chester 
made  no  secret  of  his  adherence  to  open  competition. 
Everyone,  he  thought,  had  a  prima  facie  right  to  be  a  can- 
didate. But  he  desired  to  combine  open  competition  with 
a  direct  stimulus  to  popular  education  through  institutions 

training  are  admitted ;  but  the  standards  of  examination  and  personal 
qualifications  recently  introduced  by  an  Assistant  Attorney  General 
are  admirable — in  fact,  if  they  are  adhered  to  under  the  new  adminis- 
tration, the  Department  of  Justice  should  within  the  next  decade  be 
almost  on  a  level  with  the  German  departments  of  justice. 


121  ]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  121 

like  the  Society  of  Arts ;  and  he  thought  that  his  improve- 
ment once  carried  out  by  the  government,  would  be  adopted 
by  almost  all  private  employers  and  public  companies. 

Where  the  spirit  of  patronage  rules,  the  appointments  are 
given,  to  a  great  extent,  as  a  reward  for  political  services, 
without  the  least  reference  to  the  ability  or  knowledge,  or 
fitness  of  the  person  appointed;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  pri- 
vate persons  will  find  it  to  their  interest,  by  and  bye,  to  insti- 
tute competitions  of  this  kind,  in  order  that  they  may  get  the 
best  clerks ;  and,  indeed,  very  large  numbers  of  public  and 
private  persons,  merchants,  bankers,  directors  of  railroads, 
and  managers  of  public  companies,  have  signed  a  declaration, 
approving  of  the  scheme  of  examination  instituted  by  the 
Society  of  Arts,  and  stating  that  in  the  distribution  of  their 
appointments,  they  will  regard  the  certificates  of  the  society 
as  testimonials  worthy  of  attention.^ 

Mr.  Chester's  imagination,  coupled  with  his  interest  in  the 
Society  of  Arts,  carried  him  a  little  too  far.  The  idea  that 
the  youth  of  the  lower  classes  would  compete  furiously  for 
all  kinds  of  employments  by  the  methods  of  the  correspond- 
ence school  and  the  village  debating  society,  and  that  em- 
ployers would  unhesitatingly  accept  the  resulting  certifi- 
cates of  merit  with  effusive  cordiality,  had  an  unsuspect- 
ing element  of  humor  to  which  Punch  might  have  devoted 
a  page  or  two  with  advantage. 

It  remains  now  to  consider  the  official  suggestions  of 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  itself.  They  complained  that 
a  minimum  standard  could  not  be  maintained  in  the  face  of 
several  successive  rejections;-  that  moral  qualities  did  not 

1  1S60  Report,  p.  288. 

*  The  number  of  candidates  who  received  absolute  nominations  in 
1858,  after  being  rejected  for  similar  or  lower  positions  within  the  pre- 
ceding year,  was  53 ;  35  passed  the  second  examination,  and  one  per- 
sistent individual  was  rejected  after  four  attempts. 


122  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [122 

enter  into  nominations.  However,  the  commission  thought 
that  it  was  not  wise  to  adopt  open  competition  at  once. 
Two  extensions  were  suggested,  one  by  the  commissioners, 
the  other  by  the  secretary  to  the  commission,  Horace  Mann. 
Horace  Mann  had  a  scheme  of  open  competition  limited 
by  nominations  by  persons  of  approved  positions,  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  magistrates,  clergymen,  ministers, 
schoolmasters,  etc.,  that  is,  open  competition  with  certifi- 
cates from  approved  persons.  After  a  first  general 
examination,  the  names  of  acceptable  candidates  were 
placed  in  order;  then  examinations  were  held  in  sub- 
jects especially  prescribed  for  different  departments,  and 
these  marks  were  added  and  persons  qualified  for  each 
department  were  put  down  in  order  of  standing.  That 
Mr.  Mann  was  not  a  thorough-going  democrat  can 
be  seen  in  his  Machiavellian  suggestion  that  first  divi- 
sions clerkships  could  be  restricted  to  the  higher  classes, 
where  necessary,  by  raising  educational  standards  or  add- 
ing a  subject  like  Greek.  Mr.  Mann  suggested  a  similar 
course  of  preliminary  and  final  examination  for  the  second 
division.  In  case  this  plan  should  seem  to  the  committee 
too  radical,  Mr.  Mann  put  forward  an  alternative  plan :  in 
case  limited  competition  were  retained,  there  should  be  a 
preliminary  examination  between  nominees,  followed  by 
a  final  competition  between  qualified  candidates  for  all  de- 
partments, a  proportion  of  four  candidates  for  each  vacancy 
being  maintained,  resulting  in  a  single  list  of  successful  can- 
didates from  which  the  heads  of  offices  might  choose  at 
will.^ 

»  To  Mr.  Mann,  among  others,  the  English  civil  service  ovkres  the 
suggestion  of  a  scheme  which  has  had  the  most  unfortunate  conse- 
quences— the  blind-alley  employment  of  boys  to  do  mechanical  work. 
He  advocated  hiring  boys  between  fifteen  and  eighteen,  because  they 
were  more  tractable  and  docile.  These  should  be  kept  only  for  a  few 
years  and  should  not  enjoy  increasing  salaries — 12  or  15  shillings  a 
week  would  be  quite  enough.    This  might  interfere  with  the  careers  of 


123]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  123 

Sir  Edward  Ryan  and  Sir  John  Shaw  Lefevre,  the  civil 
service  commissioners,  favored  Mann's  alternative  plan 
and  suggested  nomination  and  a  preliminary  examination, 
followed  by  a  final  examination  between  at  least  three 
qualified  candidates  for  each  vacancy,  as  many  vacancies 
as  possible  being  grouped  together  in  a  single  competition. 
In  the  final  examination  more  latitude  should  be  given  to 
candidates.  A  wide  range  of  subjects  was  suggested,  and 
the  Macaulay  scheme  of  deducting  marks  to  discourage 
smattering  was  adopted. 

The  committee  in  its  finding  sought  the  points  com- 
mop  to  the  Ryan  and  Mann  plans,  but  first  they  dealt  with 
the  old  question  of  a  division  of  the  service. 

What  is  demanded  of  a  candidate  for  a  junior  clerkship 
in  the  office  of  a  Secretary  of  State  may  appear  unnecessary 
if  we  look  only  to  the  duties  which  he  has  to  perform  at  the 
time  of  his  first  appointment ;  but  when  it  is  remembered  that 
in  the  course  of  some  years  he  will  be  placed  in  a  position  of 
great  responsibility,  and  will  have  a  large  share  in  the  conduct 
of  affairs  requiring  much  tact  and  discretion,  it  will  be  evident 
that  it  is  important  to  take  security  for  his  general  intelligence, 
and  for  his  having  received  a  liberal  education. 

The  clerk  in  the  Revenue  departments,  the  Audit  Office,  the 
Somerset  House  branch  of  the  Admiralty,  and  similar  depart- 
ments, are  mainly  occupied  with  accounts;  and  their  qualifi- 
cations for  appointment  may  be  more  directly  tested ;  yet  even 
in  these  cases  the  difference  between  men  of  intelligence  and 
mere  machines  is  very  considerable,  and  the  public  are  gainers 
by    the    introduction    of    men    of    good    education    into   these 

some,  but  many  boys  are  idle  at  this  age.  and  others  could  prepare  for 
higher  civil  service  places  in  the  evening,  or  could,  by  being  given 
twenty  pounds  extra  for  each  year  in  service,  save  enough  to  go  out 
to  the  colonies.  Thus  the  government  gets  its  work  done  cheaply 
and  well,  and  saves  superannuation.  Mr.  Mann  estimated  the  saving, 
exclusive  of  superannuation,  at  £30,000. 


124  '^^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [124 

branches  of  the  service,  provided  they  are  not  repelled  by  the 
unattractive  nature  of  the  work  required  of  them. 

With  regard  to  inferior  appointments,  while  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  better  educated  men,  if  equal  to  their  fellows 
in  all  other  respects,  will  be  the  more  valuable  servants,  yet, 
considering  the  nature  of  the  duties  they  have  to  discharge, 
the  importance  of  physical  and  moral  qualifications  is  in  these 
cases  much  higher  than  that  of  intellectual  attainments.^ 

The  committee  decided  that  there  should  be  a  final  com- 
petition among  at  least  three  qualified  candidates  for  each 
vacancy,  but  that  this  examination  system  should  not  ap- 
ply to  positions  where  the  qualifications  were  mainly  physi- 
cal— such  as  postmen,  laborers,  etc. ;  that  the  final  examin- 
ation, being  calculated  to  test  relative  merit  with  respect 
to  intelligence  and  industry,  should  allow  more  latitude 
in  subjects  as  in  the  Indian  civil  service,  and  guard 
against  smattering.  On  the  strict  maintenance  of  the  rule 
of  the  preliminary  pass  examinations  it  depended  whether 
the  subsequent  competitive  trial  would  be  real  or  illusory. 
Several  vacancies  were  to  be  competed  for  at  once,  but  the 
Mann  suggestion  of  a  single  general  list  was  repudiated. 
More  stimulating  arrangements  for  promotion  were  urged, 
and  a  suggestion  was  made  that  nominations  to  lower 
positions  be  used  to  stimulate  the  work  of  elementary 
schools  and  educational  societies.  Finally  the  committee 
suggested  that  open  competition  should  be  tried  gradually, 
beginning  with  one  or  two  departments.  Thus  a  ground 
for  comparison  would  be  afforded  and  the  ultimate  ex- 
tension determined. 

The  conclusion  of  the  report  shows  the  weakness  of  the 
compromise  as  well  as  its  strength — the  weakness  of  sup- 
porting the  prescriptive  right  of  perquisites,  and  the  strength 

1  i860  Report,  p.  ix. 


125]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  125 

of  a  slow  and  deliberate  advance  of  open  competition,  con- 
quering by  the  overwhelming  force  of  logic  and  fact. 

Already  the  Civil  Service  in  India,  the  Medical  Service,  the 
Public  Works  Department  in  India,  and  the  scientific  branches 
of  the  military  profession,  both  in  regard  of  the  Imperial  and 
of  the  Indian  army,  have  been  thrown  open  to  all  competi- 
tors; nor  does  there  appear,  either  in  Parliament  or  among 
the  people,  any  disposition  to  regret  or  to  draw  back  from  the 
large  concessions  thus  made  to  public  opinion  at  the  expense 
of  private  patronage. 

But  Your  Committee,  for  the  very  reason  that  leads  them  to 
desire  the  ultimate  success  of  the  competitive  method,  are 
anxious  to  avoid  such  precipitancy  in  its  adoption  as  might 
possibly  lead  to  a  temporary  reaction  of  public  feeling.  They 
do  not  conceal  from  themselves  that,  in  proportion  as  the 
practice  of  simple  nomination  is  departed  from,  private  inter- 
ests are  disturbed,  the  prescriptive  custom  of  political  patron- 
age is  broken  in  upon,  and  many  persons  exercising  local  in- 
fluence find  themselves  no  longer  able  to  obtain  for  relatives 
and  dependents  that  ready  admission  into  public  offices  which 
was  formerly  within  their  reach.  If  to  these  causes  of  natural 
jealousy  be  added  the  prevailing  and  not  unreasonable  dis- 
trust of  administrative  changes,  proceeding  on  a  principle 
which,  until  of  late  years,  has  received  no  general  recognition, 
it  is  evident  that  much  deliberation  and  prudence  are  necessary 
before  proceeding  to  carry  out  to  its  full  extent  the  system 
recommended  by  the  Commissioners  of  1853.^ 

As  a  result  of  this  report  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners 
at  the  invitation  of  the  Treasury  advised  (i)  a  prelimin- 
ary examination,  including  orthography,  handwriting, 
arithmetic,  composition,  bookkeeping,  and  in  solicitor's 
offices,  Latin.  This  examination  might  be  from  a  list  of 
special  nominees,  or  open  to  all  with  a  provision  for  nom- 

1  1S60  Report,  p.  xiv. 


126  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [126 

inations  from  the  successful  list.  The  Treasury,  of  course, 
chose  the  first  scheme  and  thus  retained  patronage  from  the 
beginning.  The  preliminary  examination  marks  were  not 
to  count  toward  (2)  a  final  competitive  examination  with 
an  average  of  five  or  at  least  three  candidates  for  each 
vacancy,  including  the  preliminary  subjects  and  in  addition 
the  present  final  subjects;  (3)  a  prima  facie  evidence  of 
character,  health,  etc.,  on  the  part  of  each  candidate,  but 
no  physical  examinations.^ 

These  suggestions  of  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners, 
together  with  the  suggestions  embodied  in  the  report  of 
i860,  were  adopted  by  the  Treasury  and  by  most  of  the 
other  departments.  The  results  were  most  gratifying. 
Thus  in  the  competition  of  1865,  two  out  of  every  five  candi- 
dates were  rejected  in  the  preliminary  examination;  in 
1866,  196  out  of  411 :  and  in  1867,  244  out  of  540  official 
nominees  vindicated  the  disinterested  good  judgment  of 
their  patrons  by  failing  in  the  most  elementary  subjects. 
Up  to  1869  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners  had  rejected 
on  the  written  examinations  8,169  out  of  66,519  candi- 
dates and  they  said,  significantly : 

"  If  the  subjects  of  examination  be  divided  into  two  classes,  one 

1/56/  Report,  xix.  Sixth  Report  of  Civil  Service  Commissioners. 
Furthermore,  the  commissioners  stated  that  they  would  emphasize  the 
physical  requirements  for  lower  Customs'  positions,  and  regretted 
greatly  that  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  who  had  promised  to  raise  the  physi- 
cal requirements  and  to  institute  open  competition  in  the  Post  Office, 
had  given  up  this  idea  on  taking  office  and  had  allowed  the  old  patron- 
age to  go  on.  The  commissioners  also  referred  to  the  increasing  num- 
bers of  copying  clerks,  who  occupied  anomalous  semi-permanent  and 
often  responsible  positions  in  several  departments.  They  even  outnum- 
bered the  permanent  clerks  in  the  War  Office  and  Admiralty,  some 
being  promoted  to  permanent  clerkships  in  the  former  office  after  re- 
peated attempts  at  the  examination.  There  were  too  many  messen- 
gers, office  helpers,  etc.,  who,  having  previously  been  in  domestic  ser- 
vice, were  appointed  at  a  late  age  and  kept  in  the  service  long  after 
they  became  inefficient. 


127]  OP  EX  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  127 

including  reading,  spelling,  handwriting,  arithmetic,  and  (in 
the  case  of  each  department),  the  subjects  connected  with  the 
practical  work  of  that  office ;  the  other  comprising  those  which 
are  prescribed  as  tests  of  general  intelligence  and  cultivation ; 
the  number  of  rejections  caused  by  failures  in  the  latter  class 
of  subjects  has  been  only  271,  as  against  7899  cases  of  failures 
in  the  former  class."  ^ 

We  have  seen  that  real  limited  competition  after  a  pre- 
liminary examination  had  been  introduced.  The  system 
had  been  extended  to  the  dockyards,  to  the  public  services 
of  Ceylon  and  Mauritius,  to  the  Irish  constabulary  and 
to  the  inspectors  of  schools.  Wherever  the  new  rules  were 
accepted,  there  was  an  improvement  in  clerks,  or  at  least  a 
further  elimination  of  the  unfit.  As  the  success  of  com- 
petition became  more  manifest,  the  ideal  and  practical  value 
of  patronage  declined.  The  heads  of  offices  could  not  fail 
to  ridicule  a  system  of  patronage  ',vhich  introduced  so  many 
incompetents  to  be  ''  plucked  "  at  a  childish  preliminary  ex- 
amination ;  and  politicians  ceased  to  attach  importance  to 
their  patronage  when  they  could  no  longer  insure  their 
nominees  the  certainty  of  appointment. 

Everyone  was  tired  of  the  patronage  system.  In  1870 
the  Treasury,  by  a  famous  Order  in  Council,  abolished 
patronage  and  set  up  open  competition.  This  Order  in 
Council  is  of  great  importance — with  certain  slight  modi- 
fications it  remains  in  force  today.  Its  outstanding  fea- 
tures were  these:  (i)  open  competition;  (2)  tw^o  divisions. 

No  person  was  hereafter  to  be  employed  in  any  depart- 
ment, unless  tested  and  reported  qualified  by  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice Commission  after  competitive  examinations. 

Schedule  A  contained  the  famous  programs  for  class  I 
and  class  II.     In  class  I  it  created  a  list  of  departments 

1  Eaton,  op.  cit.,  p.  26. 


128  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [128 

which  were  willing  to  subscribe  to  regulations  for  a  staff 
of  highly  trained  university  men  distinct  from  the  ordinar>^ 
clerks. 

The  clerkships  to  be  filled  up  under  the  scheme  for  Class  I 
were  designed  to  be  a  new  creation,  not  necessarily  coinciding 
with  any  of  the  clerkships  already  existing  in  public  of^ces. 
The  initial  salary  was  to  be  in  all  cases  iioo  a  year,  and  the 
successful  competitors  were  to  rise  by  seniority  to  £400  a  year, 
being  subsequently  eligible  for  the  highest  permanent  posts  in 
the  Civil  Service.  A  certain  proportion  of  them,  too,  on  whom 
the  more  responsible  duties  devolved,  were  to  get,  in  addition 
to  the  ordinary  maximum  of  £400  a  year,  extra  or  duty  pay, 
not  exceeding  £200  a  year  in  any  case.  These  Class  I  clerk- 
ships were  to  be  few  and  far  between,  one  or  two  being  calcu- 
lated to  be  sufficient  to  direct  intelligently  the  work  of  an 
entire  ofifice.^ 

The  program  for  Qass  II  was  to  supersede  the  innumer- 
able schemes  of  examinations  then  in  force  for  the  various 
offices,  and  from  candidates  successful  under  it  the  vast  body 
of  existing  clerkships  were  to  be  filled.  But  no  attempt  was 
made  to  equalize  the  salaries  in  the  departments.  Hence,  as 
the  initial  salaries  and  prospects  of  promotion  differed  mar- 
velously — and,  it  may  be  added,  illogically — in  different  offices, 
these  certificates  were,  in  the  order  of  their  position  on  the 
successful  list,  allowed  to  select  the  Department  to  which  they 
wished  to  be  appointed,  and  there  was  for  the  most  part  an 
astonishing  gap  between  the  respective  prospects  of  the  first 
and  of  the  last  of  the  successful  candidates.^ 

It  is  important  to  note  that  the  Order  in  Council  pro- 
vided in  its  famous  Clause  VII  a  means  by  which  specially 
qualified  outsiders  might  be  admitted  to  the  service  without 

'  W.  J.  Chetwode-Crawley,  LL.D.,  D.  C.  L.   (London,   1890),  Hand- 
book of  Competitive  Examinations. 
*  Ibid. 


129]  OP£xV  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  129 

examination,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Treasury  and 
the  head  of  the  office  in  question,  and  certificated  by  the 
Civil  Serv'ice  Commission.  Moreover,  situations  to  which 
the  holder  was  appointed  directly  by  the  crown  were 
exempted,  and  also  those  exempted  under  the  Superannua- 
tion Act  of  1859/  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  denied 
pensions  to  those  not  examined  and  passed  by  the  Civil 
Service  Commission.  These  two  acts  all  taken  together 
— the  Superannuation  Act  of  1859  and  the  Order  in  Council 
of  1870 — have  closed  the  English  civil  service  to  patronage, 
insured  competitive  examinations,  and  introduced  vital  dis- 
tinctions in  educational  standards,  without  excluding  ex- 
ceptional appointments  without  examination  of  persons  en- 
gaged in  other  pursuits,  and  peculiarly  or  professionally 
qualified. 

It  is  needless  to  comment  at  length  upon  the  deficiencies 
of  this  class  I  and  class  II  system.  Neither  the  Civil 
Service  Commissioners,  the  Treasury,  nor  the  Privy  Council 
had  any  power  to  determine  what  offices  had  need  of  the 
Schedule  A  clerks.  This  list  was  fixed  by  consultations 
with  the  heads  of  offices.  The  Civil  Service  Commissioners, 
India  Office,  Board  of  Trade,  Treasury,  War  Office,  and 
Post  Office  signified  their  willingness  to  adopt  the  Schedule 
A  rules.  But  this  bargaining  with  department  heads  had 
very  bad  effects.  Those  heads  who  refused  to  adopt  a 
first  division,  simply  gave  first  division  clerkships  to  second 
division  men. 

This,  together  with  the  existing  differences  of  pay  and 
prospects  amongst  the  various  grades  of  second  division 
clerks  in  different  offices,  resulted  in  confusion,  discontent, 
jealousy  and  bitterness,  together  with  a  loss  in  money  and 
efficiency  to  the  government  which  was  none  the  less  real 
because  it  could  not  be  exactly  calculated. 

The    following   decade   of   civil    service   history    marks 

1  Under  Schedule  B. 


I30  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [130 

the  attempts  to  remedy  this  state  of  affairs,  and  the  im- 
portant events  of  the  decade  are  the  findings  of  two  com- 
missions— one  in  1873  on  economy,  the  other  in  1875  on 
the  efficiency  and  standardization  of  the  service. 

Before  turning  to  the  work  of  the  commissions  of  1873 
and  1875,  it  is  worth  while  in  passing  to  note  the  birth 
of  the  flourishing  organ  of  civil  service  opinion,  The  Civil- 
ian. The  first  issue  of  The  Civilian  appeared  in  1869.  It 
was  published  as  a  weekly  journal  for  civil  service  clerks 
in  the  Revenue  departments,  but  is  now,  as  its  sub-title 
claims,  "  the  accredited  organ  of  the  Civil  Service."  It 
has  had  a  most  honorable  career.  Apart  from  civil  service 
news  and  editorials,  it  has  always  had  considerable  literary 
merit.  Though  at  times  somewhat  pretentious  and  imita- 
tive, the  best  issues  have  not  been  inferior  to  those  of  the 
English  political  weeklies.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  draw 
any  comparisons  between  The  Civilian  and  the  writings  of 
American  civil  servants.  Washington  clerks  are  quite  in- 
capable of  such  a  publication. 

From  1869  to  the  present  time,  The  Civilian  has  exercised 
considerable  influence  in  molding  the  opinions  of  the  serv- 
ants of  the  state,  so  that  today  they  form  a  corporate  body 
with  a  distinct  program  of  rights  and,  for  better  or  worse, 
a  growing  consciousness  of  the  possibility  of  political  ac- 
tion in  their  own  behalf. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  The  Civilian  is  a 
democratic  paper,  in  the  sense  that  the  publications  of  the 
French  socialistic  or  syndicalistic  civil  servants  are  demo- 
cratic. The  editors  of  The  Civilian  are  and  have  been 
higher  second  division  clerks,  who  constitute  the  haute 
bourgeoisie  of  the  civil  service,  and  are  just  as  anxious  to 
preserve  their  distinction  from  the  lower  ranks  of  the  ser- 
vice, as  they  are  to  break  down  the  barriers  which  separate 
them    from   the  first   division.      Moreover,    The   Civilian, 


131]  OPEN  COMPETITION  INTRODUCED  131 

besides  agitating  for  reform  and  discovering  abuses,  has 
had  an  honorable  record  for  benefit  insurance  and  charitable 
work,  has  stimulated  discussion  and  writing,  and  has  been, 
in  general,  the  source  or  organ  of  every  honorable  move- 
ment among  the  clerks  and  the  rank  and  file  of  the  civil 
service. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Further  Investigations — The  Reaction — The  Decade 
OF  Scepticism 

The  period  between  the  Order  for  open  competition  in 
1870  and  the  third  great  investigation  into  the  civil  ser- 
vice from  1873  to  1875,  is  one  of  gradual  adaptation. 

In  1873  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  now  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  appointed  a  select  committee  "  to  inquire 
whether  any  and  what  reductions  can  be  effected  in  the 
expenditures  for  the  civil  service."  ^  Every  class  of  officers 
and  employees  from  the  Chancellor  to  the  post  boys  was 
examined. 

The  prior  investigations  had  been  directed  to  the  best  means 
of  selecting  and  promoting  officers,  to  the  discipline,  duties  and 
methods  best  adapted  to  secure  honest  and  efficient  administra- 
tion. This  had  for  its  object  retrenchment  and  economy,  in 
harmony  with  the  new  system.  Nothing  is  more  significant,  in 
connection  with  this  inquiry,  than  the  fact  that  it  could  be 
ordered  with  such  breadth  and  carried  forward  with  such  com- 
pleteness and  severity.  When  members  could  see  that  retrench- 
ment might  abolish  places  they  wished  to  fill,  send  back  to  them 
their  poor  dependents,  or  cut  down  the  salaries  of  partisan 
henchmen  to  whom  they  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude— [to  say 
nothing  of  the  scandals  which  such  results  might  disclose]  — 
how  could  they  be  expected  to  have  courage  for  economy? 
But  limited  competition,  from  1855  to  1870,  having  excluded 
most  of  the  unworthy,  and  open  competition,  since  1870,  hav- 

1  Parliamentary  Papers,  1873,  vii. 
132  [132 


133]  THE  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  133 

ing  closed  the  doors  of  patronage  and  favoritism,  members 
of  Parliament  had  no  longer  the  same  interest  to  resist  re- 
trenchment. The  investigation  of  1873  was,  therefore,  a  na- 
tural outcome  of  the  new  system  of  selections."  ^ 

The  investigation  filled  three  volumes  and  included  5,000 
questions.  It  extended  to  the  whole  subject  of  organization 
— subordinates,  discipline,  hours,  health,  efficiency,  pride 
of  service,  promotions,  salaries,  pensions,  age  of  entrance, 
etc.  The  investigation  included  patronage  in  the  hands  of 
judges,  and  in  particular  discovered  the  shameless  extrava- 
gances and  sinecures  of  the  old  Bankrupts  Court  (not  un- 
like those  abuses  in  Chancery  to  the  end  of  Eldon's  day). 

The  select  committee  reported  that  the  rates  of  salaries 
were  not  excessive;  but  excess  lay  in  the  number  of  clerks 
— due  partly  to  insufficient  work  required  of  a  large  number 
of  employees  and  to  the  waste  of  time  by  employing  well- 
educated  men  on  merely  mechanical  duties.'^ 

Disputes  about  the  authority  of  the  Treasury  in  delimit- 
ing necessary  establishments  of  other  civil  offices  had  pre- 
vented uniform  reforms,  and  the  committee  urged  the 
Treasury  to  extend  its  supervisory  power. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  the  famous  Order  in  Council  of 
1870,  besides  instituting  open  competition,  had  provided 
that  there  should  be  two  divisions  of  clerks  with  different 
schemes  of  entrance  examinations.  It  was  expected  that, 
where  high  intellectual  attainments  were  desirable,  the  head 
of  an  office  would  adopt  both  divisions,  and  that  an  office  in 
which  only  average  ability  was  demanded  would  be  enrolled 
under  scheme  II.  But  there  were  heads  of  offices  who  dis- 
liked the  idea  of  scheme  I,  and  resolved  to  keep  their 
clerks  under  scheme  II  rules,  but  to  promote  their  best 
second   division  clerks  to  higher  positions  and  pay  them 

1  Eaton,  Civil  Service  in  Great  Britain,  p.  239. 
'  Parliamentary  Papers,  1873,  vii. 


134 


THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 


[134 


as  if  they  were  first  division  men.  The  results  were  most 
unfortunate.  In  1874  ^  we  learn  that  ten  departments  were 
to  hold  competitive  examinations  for  vacancies  under 
scheme  I  and  twenty-six  under  scheme  II.  The  chiefs 
of  departments  not  named  in  the  list,  had  either  declined 
to  accept  the  principles  of  open  competition,  or  had  not  yet 
settled  under  which  of  the  two  schemes  of  examination 
situations  vacant  were  to  be  classed.  Huge  departments 
like  the  Inland  Revenue  and  Local  Government  Board  ad- 
mitted exclusively  second  division  clerks. 

In  offices  where  both  schemes  were  employed,  the  pay  and 
opportunities  of  first  division  men  varied  greatly.^     But 

*  London  Times,  April  17,  1874. 

'  The  following  table  shows  the  distribution  of  first  division  men  in 
five  offices  in  which  open  competition  was  used ;  the  classes  referred  to 
being,  of  course,  merely  promotion  stages  in  the  first  division :  * 


Civil  Service 
Commission. 


India  Office. 


Board  of  Trade. 


Treasury. 


War  Office. 


Post  Office. 


3rd  Class. 


2nd  Class. 


;£ioo-4oo-     15 


200-400      15 


100-400      15 


150-250      10      19 


;£lOO-250 


ist  Class. 


£  >: 


500-700  20  13 
350-650115 
500-700  20 
500-700  20 


420-600 


250-600 


;£30o-5oo  15 

700-1000  25 
700       j.. 

700-1000  25 
700       25 


12        625-800 


700-900 


420-600 


260-380  15 1  8 1       400-600:20 


Princ.  Clerks, 
Ass't  Secy's,  etc. 


£   z; 


£loo 


I 000-1200 
1000 

QOO 

1500 
I0OO-I2O0 

800 
650 
1500 
1200 
1000 


I 
I 

800 

5 
6 

500-600 
625-800 

I 

goo 

2 

900-ioco 

I 

900-1200 

»  Principal  Clerks.  '  Assistant  Clerks. 

*  Parliamentary  Papers,  1873,  Hi. 


135]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  135 

these  inequalities  amongst  first  division  clerks  were  as  noth- 
ing compared  to  the  amazing  differences  in  pay  and  services 
rendered  by  second  division  clerks.  In  an  office  entirely 
under  scheme  II,  the  pay,  increments  and  opportunities  of 
the  second  division  were  of  course  much  greater  than  where 
both  schemes  were  employed.  In  one  office  a  second  divi- 
sion clerk  might  reach  an  insurmountable  first  division 
barrier  at  £300  a  year ;  in  another  a  more  fortunate  second 
division  clerk  might  rise  to  a  principal  clerkship  at  £1200. 

The  results  of  this  inquiry  we  need  not  review  at  length. 
Many  offices  were  abolished,  work  and  pay  were  more 
fairly  and  uniformly  distributed,  and  a  beginning  was  made 
of  a  logical  two-division  clerkship  system.  The  aim  of  the 
commission  was  economy  and  standardization.  The  more 
intimate  and  subtle  questions  of  civil  service  reform,  those 
of  class  and  democracy,  of  opportunities  and  contentment, 
of  influence  on  national  education,  etc.,  etc.,  were  not  within 
the  province  of  this  commission.  They  were  reserved  for 
another  great  investigation  under  Gladstone's  successor. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  1873  inquiry  is  one 
which  we  are  apt  to  lose  sight  of — the  striking  absence  of 
questions  of  corruption  and  dishonest  patronage.  Mr. 
Eaton,  who  was  sent  from  the  United  States  to  report 
on  the  English  service,  comments  enthusiastically  on  the 
effects  of  open  competition  and  its  accompanying  efficiency 
and  economy,  contrasting  at  all  times  this  happy  condition 
with  the  motley  rout  of  office  holders  and  lobbyists  at  home : 

"  Under  competition,  you  have  no  patronage,  and  there  is 
therefore  no  motive  to  increase  establishments  beyond  the 
strength  which  is  required  for  the  work ; ...  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  a  very  strong  motive  in  the  departments  themselves 
to  keep  the  establishment  down,  so  as  to  have  the  credit  of 
economical  estimates."  .  .  .  There  is  one  more  important  consid- 


126  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [136 

eration  connected  with  this  report  to  which  I  must  refer.    The 
thorough   and   fearless   scrutiny   of   the   committee   extended 
over  several  months  and  into  every  office,  without  respect  of 
station,  high  or  low— a  scrutiny  that  brought  the  head  of  the 
Treasury  and  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  their  bar,  not  less  than 
the  humblest  clerks  and  doorkeepers — a  scrutiny  which  invited 
and   received  the  complaints  of  every  discharged  or  discon- 
tented official  who  chose  to  appear  or  to  write— and  yet  such 
a  scrutiny  did  not,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  disclose  a  single 
instance  of  peculation  or  fraud,  nor  was  there  any  evidence  or 
charge  that  illicit  gains  or  corruption . .  .  anywhere  existed  or 
were  hy  anybody  believed  to  exist  in  the  public  service.    And  I 
am  unable  to  find  any  other  explanation  of  a  condition  of  things 
so  striking,  except  selections  and  promotions  based  on  merit,  a 
tenure  not  disturbed  for  political  reasons,  retiring  allowances, 
and  the  various  methods  ...  for  promoting  self-respect  and  re- 
spect for  the  government  On  the  part  of  those  in  its  service.    It 
is  only  when  we  contemplate  the  full  significance  of  such  free- 
dom from  even  the  suspicion  of  corruption  or  dishonesty,  and 
compare  it  with  the  pervading  venality  and  malversation  which 
had  prevailed  in  earlier  generations,  that  we  are  able  to  com- 
prehend the  scope  and  the  blessing  of  administrative  reform  in 
Great  Britain.^ 

Shortly  after  the  economy  report  appeared,  the  Glad- 
stone Administration  fell.  The  civil  service  rejoiced  ^ 
greatly.  Gladstone's  Cabinet  officers  as  heads  of  depart- 
ments were  extremely  unpopular,  especially  Childers  and 
Lowe.  The  Civilian  claimed  that  they  denied  justice  to 
public  employees,  which  was  untrue;  but  added  signifi- 
cantly :  "  they  went  further  and  withheld  those  small  cour- 

1  Eaton,  Civil  Service  in  Great  Britain,  pp.  242-43. 
'  The  Civilian,  January  2,  1875. 


137]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  137 

tesies  which  cost  so  little,  and  are  yet  so  highly  esteemed 
by  their  recipients."  ^ 

Disraeli's  Government  was  often  charged  with  the  too 
frequent  practice  of  evading  responsibility  by  referring  em- 
barrassing subjects  to  a  royal  commission  or  select  com- 
mittee. ^ 

However  obscure  and  temporizing  may  have  been  the 
work  of  some  of  Disraeli's  commissions,  the  new  inquiry 
into  the  civil  service  was  meant  to  be  both  searching  and 
effective.  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  became  Disraeli's  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer.  It  was  he  who  appointed  the 
committee  and  outlined  its  scope  of  inquiry;  but  it  was  a 
Northcote  who  was  no  longer  an  eager  enthusiast  for  free 

*  The  grievances  of  civil  servants  against  heads  of  departments  were 
of  considerable  importance.  A  ministry  could  be  much  hampered  by 
the  attacks  of  civil  servants  in  the  press,  and  by  the  votes  of  civil  ser- 
vants. It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  this  time  the  old  act  disfranch- 
ising Revenue  employees  was  repealed.  As  regards  outside  influence 
exercised  through  the  press,  an  instructive  incident  occurred  in  1875. 
Lord  John  Manners,  the  Postmaster  General,  attempted  to  prevent 
Post  Office  employees  from  using  the  press  to  air  their  grievances 
and  personalities.  He  tried  to  stop  the  promotion  and  increments  of 
the  whole  division  concerned,  so  as  to  make  the  culprits  come  forward. 
The  results  of  this  childish  expedient  were  howls  of  anger  from  the 
innocent  and  guilty  civilians,  the  derision  of  the  press,  the  discounting 
of  a  popular  ministry  and  a  general  weakening  of  efficiency  and  loyalty. 
Of  course  Lord  John  had  to  back  down.  In  such  cases  an  English 
minister  can  only  trust  to  the  ultimate  esprit  de  corps  of  the  service, 
to  the  intelligence  of  the  public  and  to  the  English  laws  against  gross 
and  wanton  aspersions  on  private  character. 

'  See  cartoons  in  Punch,  March  11,  1876,  called  "Civil  Service  Stores." 
Disraeli  is  at  the  counter  with  an  obsequious  salesman's  manner: 
"What  can  we  do  for  you,  Madam? — Royal  Commission?  Select 
Committee?  Papers?  Careful  consideration.  Official  Enquiry?  Any- 
thing to  oblige !"  April  10,  1875.  "  Dizzy  "  returns  from  the  country, 
still  somewhat  weak  and  shaky,  and  is  questioned  by  Mr.  Punch  about 
his  health.  One  of  his  crutches  is  labeled  "  Majority",  the  other  "  Se- 
lect Committee". 


138  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [138 

and  Open  competition,  but  rather  a  cautious  and  tried  Con- 
servative politician  who  now  looked  at  the  service  from 
the  perhaps  higher  vantage  of  practical  efficiency,  and  had  a 
suspicion  that  the  existing  methods  of  recruiting  the  ser- 
vice were  not  to  be  sustained  at  the  expense  of  the  best 
Conservative  administration. 

The  members  of  the  1875  commission,  known  as  the 
"  Playfair  Commission",  were:  Rt.  Hon.  Lyon  Playfair, 
M.P.,  Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  M.P.,  Sir  W.  H.  Stevenson, 
K.C.B.,  Sir  F.  R.  Sandford,  C.B.,  Rt.  Hon.  C.  W.  Fre- 
mantle,  T.  H.  Farrer,  Esq.,  T.  Walrond,  Esq.,  C.B.,  Her- 
bert Joyce,  Esq. 

The  subjects  of  the  inquiry,  as  outlined  by  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote,  were :  ( i )  selection  of  civil  servants  in  the  first 
instance;  (2)  principles  of  transfer  from  office  to  office, 
especially  where  numbers  have  been  reduced,  so  that  redund- 
ant employees  can  be  employed  in  other  departments;  (3) 
grading  the  civil  service  as  a  whole;  (4)  employment  of 
writers  and  temporary  clerks.^ 

In  Sir  Stafford's  instructions  to  Dr.  Playfair  there  is  a 
sentence  which  is  significant  as  showing  that  the  new 
Cabinet  was  by  no  means  convinced  of  the  permanence  of 
open  competition  as  a  principle : 

1  The  discussion  of  civil  service  history  in  the  next  two  decades,  the 
decades  of  the  Playfair  report  of  1875  and  of  the  Ridley  report  of 
1888,  will  be  largely  confined  to  the  chief  problems  before  the  two 
commissions,  their  recommendations,  and  the  actual  adoption  of  these 
suggestions  by  the  Treasury.  The  earlier  history  of  civil  service  re- 
form has  been  treated  at  greater  length  because  the  general  character 
of  the  service  and  the  tendencies  of  growth  and  change  are  clearly  in- 
dicated in  the  period  between  the  first  report  of  Trevelyan  and  North- 
cote and  the  Order  for  open  competition  in  1870.  Having  sketched  the 
Playfair  and  Ridley  reports,  we  shall  pass  on  to  the  present-day  civil 
service,  examine  more  striking  and  decisive  evidence  collected  by  the 
present  Royal  Commission,  and  attempt  to  prophesy  the  course  of  im- 
mediate changes. 


139]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  139 

While  the  Government  desire  as  a  general  principle  to 
uphold  a  system  of  selection  according  to  merit,  as  opposed 
to  selection  by  simple  exercise  of  patronage,  they  are  anxious 
that  the  Commission  should  look  thoroughly  into  the  action 
of  the  present  system  of  competitive  examinations,  and  should 
give  their  opinion  upon  any  modifications  which  they  may  find 
it  desirable  to  recommend  in  it  with  perfect  freedom.^ 

The  Play  fair  Commission  made  three  reports.^  The  first 
dealt  with  the  ordinary  clerical  establishments,  the  second; 
with  technical  branches,  such  as  the  British  Museum,^  the 
third  with  the  outdoor  establishments  of  Revenue  and  Cus- 
toms.* Only  the  first  Play  fair  report  need  be  treated  in  de- 
tail in  this  chapter. 

The  leading  principles  established  in  the  clerical  civil 
service  in  1870  were  under  fire.  Open  compet'tion, 
the  intellectually  aristocratic  division  of  the  service,  uni- 
formity of  requirements  throughout  the  service,  and  the 

^Parliamentary  Papers,  1875,  vol.  xxiii,  pp.  3-4;  hereinafter  re- 
ferred to  as  First  Playfair  Report. 

*  Parliamentary  Papers,  1875,  xxiii.     Index,  1876,  xxii. 

*  The  Revenue  and  Customs  report  recommended  that  there  should  be 
no  artificial  divisions  of  classes  carrying  different  scales  of  pay;  that 
promotion  should  be  general;  that  there  should  be  free  transfer  and 
periodical  increments ;  and  it  was  urged  that  there  was  too  much 
specialization  in  the  Customs. 

*  The  more  important  recommendations  of  the  committee  in  re- 
gard to  the  offices  requiring  special  and  technical  qualifications, 
and  to  such  establishments  as  the  British  Museum  and  Department 
of  Science  and  Art,  were  that  most  of  these  places  should  be 
ploced  under  regulation  I.  being  recruited  like  other  clerical 
officials  dealt  with  in  the  main  report,  or  under  clause  7  of  the  Order 
in  Council  of  1870,  and  that  there  should  be  a  regrading  of  these  de- 
partments, together  with  equalization  of  pay,  duty  pay,  etc.  Specific 
recommendations  were  made  as  to  the  South  Kensington  Museum  and 
the  British  Museum,  where  the  staffs  were  too  small  and  too  poorly 

paid. 


I40  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [140 

absence  of  any  free  choice  on  the  part  of  heads  of  depart- 
ments— such  principles  as  these,  which  had  been  success- 
fully established,  were  attacked  bitterly  by  the  irreconcil- 
ables.  A  few  quotations  chosen  at  random  will  make  this 
clear. 

Sir  Louis  Mallet,  C.B.,  rose  from  junior  clerk  in  the 
Audit  Department  to  Permanent  Under  Secretary  of  the 
India  Office.  He  did  not  believe  in  open  competition,  but 
preferred  to  select  his  own  men,  those  who  were  adapted 
to  the  work  of  the  India  Office,  not  those  whom  he  must 
adapt.  He  did  not  believe  in  division  I  and  division  II,  on 
the  ground  that  a  man's  career  should  not  be  decided  at 
twenty,  and  that  the  heights  should  be  open  to  all.  At  the 
same  time  he  wanted  to  be  able  to  select  men  according  to 
their  fitness  for  intellectual  and  for  mechanical  work  at  the 
outset.  He  thought  that  each  department  must  be  consid- 
ered as  separate  and  that  no  unifomi  system  of  pay  was 
possible.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Knox,  then  a  principal  clerk,  who 
rose  to  be  a  Permanent  Under  Secretary  of  the  War  Office, 
believed  in  the  division  of  the  service  and  favored  the  pro- 
motion of  second  division  clerks  only  after  an  academic  ex- 
amination. 

A.  I  would  not  have  promotion  secured  at  all,  but  I  would 
leave  an  opportunity  for  exercising  an  extreme  selection  to 
promote  a  very  good  man  from  one  class  to  the  other,  assum- 
ing that  he  was  willing  to  take  upon  his  shoulders  also  the 
liability  to  come  up  to  the  educational  test  (not  in  competi- 
tion) of  the  senior  establishment.  You  must  maintain  the 
status  of  the  senior  establishment. 

O.  You  would  not  allow  a  man  to  go  from  the  lower  to 
the  upper  division  merely  by  official  merit  ? 

'  First  Playfair  Report,  p.  161. 


141  ]  THE  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  141 

A.  No,  not  merely  by  official  merit. 

Q.  You  would  not  allow  it  without  examination? 

A.  No,  not  without  examination.  /  think  he  should  pass 
such  an  examination  as  would  give  him  educationally  the  status 
of  a  gentleman.'^ 

The  Rt.  Hon.  Robert  Lowe  expressed  the  same  frank 
opinion :  The  first  division  was  necessary,  separate  and 
closed,  not  because  the  men  were  of  higher  ability,  but  be- 
cause, through  their  superior  style  of  education  and  dif- 
ferent ideas,  they  were  fitted  for  dealing  with  members  of 
Parliament  and  people  from  outside  to  whom  they  were 
socially  equal.  This,  Lowe  thought,  could  not  be  brought 
about  by  promoting  clerks,  however  able  and  meritorious, 
from  the  second  division.  Lowe  believed  in  a  rigid  two- 
division  system  recruited  by  strictly  competitive  examina- 
tions, without  opportunity  to  rise  from  division  I  to  divi- 
sion IL  He  advocated  a  third  class  of  low-paid  clerks — 
permanent  and  pensionable.  He  claimed,  with  justice,  that 
there  were  far  too  many  first  division  men,  and  advocated  a 
committee  of  the  Cabinet  to  remedy  this.  He  did  not  be- 
lieve in  grading  the  whole  service  as  to  pay  and  promo- 
tion." 

Sir  Charles  Trevelyan,  discussing  the  triumphs  of  open 
competitive  examinations,  said : 

The  Home  Civil  Service  does  not  stand  alone;  the  com- 
petitive system  has  been  successfully  applied,  first  to  the  artil- 
lery and  engineers,  and  since  that  to  the  rest  of  the  army  .  .  . 
to  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  and  ...  in  several  of  the  colonies. 
.  .  .  Appointment  to  the  public  service  by  open  competition  has 
been  accepted  as  a  national  institution  and  is  regarded  as  an 

^  First  Playfair  Report,  p.  9. 
*  Ibid.,  pp.  125-127. 


142  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [142 

inestimable  privilege  by  the  great  majority  of  persons  of  the 
upper  and  middle  class  in  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
While  the  system  was  quite  new  it  was  twice  brought  to  issue 
in  the  House  of  Commons/  and  greatly  to  our  surprise  on  both 
occasions  a  majority  .  .  .  was  in  favor  of  maintaining  com- 
petition; when  we  inquired,  it  was  found  that  a  large  and  im- 
portant class  of  clergymen  and  retired  officers  and  persons  of 
the  middle  class  of  all  sorts  .  .  .  are  in  the  habit  of  giving  a 
good  education  to  their  sons.  .  .  .  And  when  the  new  system 
was  in  jeopardy,  they  wrote  letters  in  shoals  to  their  members, 
and  that  accounts  for  the  majority.  .  .  .  Such  a  strong  root 
has  the  system  already  taken  ...  in  one  generation. - 

Still  there  were  a  number  of  prominent  people  who 
thought  that  competitive  examinations  might  be  a  way  they 
had  in  the  army,  the  navy,  and  the  'varsity,  and  eminently 
calculated  to  obtain  jolly  good  fellows — but  manifestly  in- 
capable of  producing  clerks  in  the  home  civil  serv^ice. 

Among  these  perennial  sceptics  on  the  subject  of  written 
examinations  was  Sir  Arthur  Helps,  of  the  Privy  Council 
Offiice,  a  distinguished  man  of  letters  of  the  day : 

I  contend  that  by  this  system  the  best  men  are  liable  to  be 
shut  out ;  and  that  success  in  a  competitive  examination  is  often 
an  indication  of  the  successful  person's  unfitness  for  the  duties 
of  practical  life.  .  .  .  This  system  of  competitive  examination 
seems  likely  to  prove  very  injurious  to  the  general  education 
of  the  country.  ...  [It  tends  to  destroy  love  of  study  and  de- 
sire for  knowledge.]  ' 

An  important  question  argued  at  great  length  before  the 
Playfair   Commission   was  that  of   employing  a  class   of 

1  Cf.  Chapter  III,  supra. 

2  Second  Playfair  Report,  Appendix  F,  pp.  101-102. 
^  First  Playfair  Report,  p.  361. 


143]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  1^3 

writers  and  temporary  clerks  to  do  the  most  mechanical 
and  unimproving  work  of  the  civil  service.  This  has  been 
an  ever-recurring  and  difficult  question  throughout  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  civil  service. 

A  committee  of  1865  had  recommended  the  abolition  of 
the  supplementary  clerk  class,  the  founding  of  a  govern- 
ment copying  office  near  Whitehall,  and  the  setting  up  of 
two  classes  of  assistants,  one  of  boys  selected  by  open  com- 
petition and  employed  only  for  a  short  term  of  years,  with- 
out superannuation,  and  with  only  a  weekly  wage,  the  other 
of  men  enjoying  superannuation,  a  yearly  salary,  and  re- 
cruited from  the  boy  division,  extra  vacancies  being  filled 
by  open  competition.  This  scheme  was  later  approved  by 
both  the  Playfair  and  the  Ridley  commissions.  But  be- 
tween 1865  and  1875  other  schemes  were  tried.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  employ  writers  on  weekly  wages,  without  per- 
manent tenure,  superannuation,  or  prospect  of  advance- 
ment, but  with  wages  rising  by  seniority  or  merit.  This 
large  class  felt  that  it  had  a  claim  on  the  government.  It 
aroused  public  feeling  and  attempted  to  bring  political  pres- 
sure to  bear  to  gain  holidays,  sick-leave,  superannuation, 
and,  above  all,  a  permanent  tenure.  By  an  Order  in  Coun- 
cil of  August  19,  1871,  this  class  was  abolished;  and  the 
writers  subsequently  employed  were  given  to  understand 
at  the  outset  that  they  were  strictly  temporary,  were  to  be 
paid  by  the  piece,  and  were  to  have  no  claim  to  get  into  the 
established  civil  service. 

A  commission,  known  as  the  Otway  Commission, 
arranged  the  new  terms  and  made  some  concessions 
to  the  old  writers  employed  before  1871,  whose  pros- 
pects and  hopes  had  been  shattered  by  the  Order  in 
Council  of  that  year.  After  Mr.  Otway's  Commission, 
the  same  old  writer  trouble  appeared  again.  More  writers 
were  employed,  some  on  superior  work,  and  all  claimed  a 


144  ^^^  CiyiL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [144 

right  to  get  on  the  estabhshment.  It  was  the  duty  of  the 
Playfair  Commission  to  settle  this  problem.  The  commis- 
sion found  that  writers  and  supplementary  clerks  were  em- 
ployed in  a  number  of  cases  upon  really  difficult  and  im- 
portant work.^  As  was  indicated  in  the  special  report  of 
1865,  every  improvement  in  their  qualifications  made  the 
distinction  between  them  and  the  established  clerks  more 
odious.^  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  strong  objections  to 
promotions  to  permanent  clerkships  from  the  writer  class, 
a  practice  in  the  Admiralty  Department.  As  Horace  Mann 
put  it,  a  little  crudely : 

To  recruit,  to  a  large  extent,  the  permanent  establishments 
from  a  force  of  men  admitted,  at  any  age,  on  the  test  of  a 
National-school  boy's  examination,  and  with  the  defects  of 
character  implied  in  Micawberish  antecedents,  would  be  not 
only  to  starve  competition,  but  to  weaken  and  continually  dis- 
turb the  service.^ 

If  the  writer  class  was  to  be  abolished  who  were  to  do 
their  work?  The  objection  to  writers  had  already  led  to 
the  appointment  of  too  many  clerks  under  regulations  II, 
a  practice  bound  to  cause  overcrowding,  dissatisfaction  and 
needless  expense. 

Another  great  problem  before  the  Playfair  Comission 
was  that  of  equality  of  opportunity  among  second  division 
clerks,  and  the  unnecessary  and  unfair  extension  of  the 
first  division  to  posts  which  should  properly  have  been  a 

1  Cf.  evidence  of  Brand  and  Clayton,  First  Playfair  Report. 

2  At  a  later  date  it  was  suggested  quite  seriously  that  the  Fenian  out- 
rages were  really  the  work  of  starved  and  fanatic  government  writers. 
Cf.  Heads  and  Tails  of  the  Civil  Service  (London,  1887),  bound  in 
Political  Tracts,  1865-1896,  in  the  British  Museum  Library. 

3  First  Playfair  Report,  p.  366. 


145]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  1 45 

goal  and  incentive  to  second  division  men.  As  an  example 
of  the  anomalies  of  pay  and  opportunity  in  the  civil  service 
of  this  period,  we  have  the  following  evidence:  In  1862  A, 
B  and  C  were  i,  2  and  3  in  competition  for  Internal  Reve- 
nue offices.  Three  appointments  declared  to  be  of  the 
same  value  were  offered  them.  In  the  absence  of  informa- 
tion, A  took  the  Receiver  General's  office,  B  the  Register 
of  Warrants's  office,  and  C  the  Solicitor's  Department.  In 
1875  A  and  B  were  getting  £220,  with  no  likelihood  of  ris- 
ing above  £250  for  years,  while  C  was  getting  £370,  rising 
by  annual  increments  to  £450.  Again,  in  1862,  D  and  E 
were  bracketed  equal  in  competition  for  two  vacancies  in 
the  Internal  Revenue.  It  was  suggested  that  they  toss  for 
jobs.  In  1875,  D,  who  won  the  toss,  was  stationai*y  at 
£150,  while  E  was  getting  £220  and  stood  an  excellent 
chance  of  promotion.  There  was  chronic  discontent 
amongst  men  like  A,  B  and  D  who  were  confined  to  the 
narrow  limits  of  small  offices. 

This  discontent  was  voiced  by  many  representative 
clerks  who  appeared  before  the  Playfair  Commission.  In 
general,  we  may  say  of  these  clerks'  representatives  that 
their  ideas  of  the  fundamental  constitution  of  offices,  promo- 
tions, etc.,  were  not  very  valuable.  Only  their  specific  com- 
plaints about  their  own  offices  were  worth  having.  They 
all  commented  on  their  extraordinary  responsibilities,  on 
the  variety  of  work  in  their  office,  and  demanded  higher 
pay  and  quicker  promotion.     Each  representative  ^  clerk 

1  The  following  words  from  The  Civilian  are  worth  quoting: 
"  It  is  above  all  things  desirable  that  members  of  the  Civil  Service 
in  their  newborn  prospects  of  having  some  kind  of  justice  dealt  out  to 
them,  should  not  allow  their  joy  to  override  their  discretion.  From 
the  information  that  comes  to  us  ...  we  fear  that  harmonious  com- 
bination stands  in  peril  of  being  overlooked  in  the  frantic  haste  dis- 
played by  each  office  ...  to  lay  its  own  particular  tale  of  woe  before 
Dr.    Playfair's    Commission.      In   the   Revenue   Departments  ...  it   is 


146  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [146 

entered  the  commission  room  bursting  with  the  news  of  his 
unknown  responsibihties  and  of  the  unrewarded  labors  of 
his  office,  with  lofty  and  impartial  criticisms  of  the  general 
conduct  of  business,  and  exhaustive  schemes  accompanied 
by  architectural  plans  and  Benthamite  essays,  showing  just 
how  the  whole  civil  service  could  be  reformed  and  remod- 
eled to  suit  the  needs  of  modern  England/     Several  weeks 

especially  necessary  that  no  evidence  and  no  witness  should  be  ten- 
dered to  the  Commission  which  has  not  been  submitted  to  a  commitee 
or  to  one  or  two  persons  competent  to  judge  what  should  be  omitted 
and  what  inserted." 

'  A  junior  inspector  in  the  India  Office  had  an  elaborate  scheme  for 
arranging  clerks  under  three  classes  and  promoting  by  merit  through 
an  independent  Board  of  Control,  together  with  a  plan  for  the  shift- 
ing and  exchanging  from  department  to  department  of  men  of  relative 
rank,  pay  and  age.  The  following  quotation  illustrates  the  conception 
that  some  clerks  had  of  their  ability : 

Q.  "  Do  you  find  that  the  clerks  are  better  for  having  gone  through 
experience  of  different  kinds  of  work?" 

A.  "  I  find  them  infinitely  improved." 

Q.  "Have  you  done  so  yourself?" 

A.  "  My  service  is  rather  peculiar.  I  served  in  the  West  Indies 
before  coming  to  England.  There  is  no  branch  of  the  Service  with 
which  I  am  not  thoroughly  conversant,  and  I  ascribe  any  ability  which 
I  have  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  to  the  general  knowledge  I 
possess.     I  have  been  through  almost  all  the  branches." 

The  secretary  of  the  Civil  Service  Association  (a  clerk)  said  that 
the  examinations  for  scheme  II  were  not  comprehensive  enough.  He 
"  abominated "  the  division  into  two  schemes  and  knew  "  many  good 
men  who  wC'ke  up  one  morning  and  found  they  were  Second  Class 
officers.  Thf  y  never  knew  it  before  and  were  told  exactly  the  opposite. 
They  had  been  degraded,  not  graded."  Pie  wanted  the  scope  of  the 
examination  widened  "  so  that  anyone  who  has  anything  in  him  will 
have  the  means  of  bringing  it  out." 

Elaborate  plans  for  increasing  salaries  were  drawn  up  so  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  men  under  scheme  II  would  eventually  reach  £600. 
Preference  classes  were  to  be  arranged  so  that  those  who  developed 
late  could  overtake  the  precocious.  A  civilian  who  though  he  should 
be  thus  preferred,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  the  head  of  the  office, 
could  write  to  a  Board  of  Appeal  and  demand  an  investigation.     The 


147]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  1 47 

of  such  hearings  are  calculated  to  weary  the  most  inde- 
fatigable commissioner,  but  the  expediency  of  airing  all 
grievances,  and  of  lending  a  sympathetic  ear  to  intelligent 
suggestions,  is  unquestionable.  In  a  free  country,  govern- 
ment employees  cannot  be  forced  to  secret  political  agita- 
tion to  get  their  grievances  redressed  and  their  feasible  sug- 
gestions adopted.  And  in  this  case  we  must  remember  that 
there  were  actually  many  cases  of  men  not  long  in  the  ser- 
vice, holding  superior  positions  and  drawing  higher  pay 
than  older  colleagues  employed  on  the  same  work. 

Such  were  the  problems  before  the  Playfair  Commission. 
Let  us  see  how  they  were  dealt  with  in  the  report.  Dr. 
Playfair's  Commission  commented  on  the  unequal  value 
of  situations  under  each  of  the  regulations,  and  they 
asked  gloomily  whether,  after  all,  competition  had  not 
failed.  Formerly  when  the  clerks  looked  to  the  heads  of 
offices  as  their  patrons,  they  were  satisfied  with  prospects 
in  their  office,  and  did  not  set  up  odious  comparisons.  The 
commission  thought  that  any  uniform  competitive  exami- 
nation must  be  too  high  for  some  places  and  too  low  for 
others,  and  they  felt  that  examinations  did  not  afford  any 
real  test  of  ability.  They  commented  on  the  current  objec- 
tions to  the  barrier  between  divisions  I  and  II,  and  re- 
marked how  many  offices  had  evaded  it  by  having  division 
II  and  staff  officers,  and  no  division  I  at  all.^    The  commis- 

reason  given  for  this  appeal  was,  that  a  man  often  forms  a  better 
opinion  of  himself  than  does  his  superior.  A  Board  of  Control  was  to 
transfer  men  when  and  where  they  pleased.  The  secretary  of  the  Civil 
Service  Association  made  this  final  statement :  "  Throughout  the  whole 
service  I  would  not  have  a  single  rigid  line.  I  think  that  the  nearer 
we  approach  to  nature  in  the  service  the  better.  We  do  not  find  any 
rigid  lines  in  nature.  I  have  almost  carefully  thought  this  part  of  my 
statement — no  rigid  lines  should  be  placed  above  any  class."  First 
Playfair  Report,  Appendix  B,  passim. 

*  The  following  is  an  example  of  the  kind  of  difficulty  which  arises 


148  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [148 

sion  doubted  the  wisdom  of  choosing  important  officers  by 
a  single,  competing,  Hterary  examination  at  the  very  offset. 

No  better  analysis  of  the  Play  fair  recommendations 
could  be  found  than  that  which  appeared  some  years  later 
in  the  second  Ridley  report. 

The  object  of  the  commission  was: 

1.  To  separate  from  the  superior  service  the  class  employed 
on  work  of  a  lower  character. 

The  numbers  of  the  superior  service  to  be  greatly  curtailed. 

2.  To  have  different  systems  of  examination  for  the  two 
divisions. 

Lower  Division 

3.  The  Lower  Division  of  the  Civil  Service  to  consist  of 
men  clerks,  admissible  from  17  to  20  years  of  age,  and  of  boy 
clerks,  admissible  from  15  to  17  years  of  age. 

4.  The  Civil  Service  Commissioners  to  hold  twice  a  year, 
or  oftener  if  necessary,  competitive  examinations  for  men 
clerks  under  the  present  Regulation  II,  and  for  boy  clerks  in 
a  more  limited  number  of  subjects. 

5.  Lists  of  those  who  are  successful  in  the  competitions  to 
be  made  out  in  the  order  of  merit,  the  number  of  names  on 
such  lists  to  be  in  excess  of  the  number  of  permanent  clerk- 
ships which  are  likely  to  be  vacant. 

in  an  office  employing  only  lower  division  men,  when  the  work  of  the 
office  expands,  and  exceptional  qualifications  are  demanded.  The  Local 
Government  Board  originally  came  in  under  regulation  II  (i.  e.,  sec- 
ond division  only,  no  first  division  men).  All  promotions  to  class  I 
in  this  office  were  to  be  from  class  II,  the  second  division.  Very  high 
salaries  were  offered  and  thus  the  best  second  division  men  were 
attracted.  But  when  business  increased  and  several  legal  assistants 
were  appointed,  although  it  was  understood  that  these  were  not  to 
interfere  with  the  promotion  of  other  clerks,  the  latter  were  very  dis- 
satisfied. The  second  division  men  felt  that  they  had  a  kind  of 
vested  right  in  all  the  higher  positions  in  the  office.  This  made  it  very 
difficult  for  the  head  to  appoint  men  from  outside.  First  Playfair 
Report,  evidence  of  J.  Lambert,  C.  B.,  secretary  to  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board. 


149]  ^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  149 

6.  Each  competitor  named  in  a  list  to  serve  in  any  office 
under  the  State  where  he  may  be  wanted. 

7.  From  these  lists  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners,  on  the 
application  of  the  departments  having  vacancies,  to  supply,  on 
probation,  the  requisite  clerks,  whether  for  permanent  or  tem- 
porary duty,  as  a  general  rule,  according  to  their  order  on  the 
lists,  but  with  liberty  to  select  a  clerk  who,  in  his  examina- 
tion, has  shown  special  qualifications  for  any  particular  sub- 
ject, if  special  application  for  such  a  clerk  be  made  by  any 
department. 

8.  The  period  of  probation  to  be  not  less  than  one  year, 
and  if  the  clerk  is  rejected  by  his  department  within  that  time 
the  rejection  to  be  signified  to  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners, 
with  the  reasons,  and  such  Commissioners  to  decide  thereon 
whether  his  name  shall  be  struck  oflf  the  list  as  unfit  for  the 
Service  generally,  or  he  shall  be  allowed  a  trial  in  another 
department. 

9.  Boy  clerks  not  to  be  retained  as  such  after  completing 
their  19th  year :  but  after  approved  good  service  to  be  allowed 
to  compete  under  Regulation  II  among  themselves  for  a  limited 
number  of  men  clerkships  of  the  Lower  Division. 

10.  Appointments  may  be  made  exceptionally  to  the  Lower 
Division  of  clerks  from  the  body  of  writers  serving  before  4th 
June,  1870,  if  thoroughly  qualified,  and  from  those  subse- 
quently registered  by  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners,  pro- 
vided the  age  of  these  latter  did  not  exceed  30  years  at  the 
time  of  their  being  placed  on  the  Register,  and  provided  they 
prove  their  fitness  by  a  supplementary  examination,  and  pro- 
duce certificates  from  the  heads  of  the  departments  in  which 
they  are  serving  that  it  is  desirable  in  the  interest  of  the  pubHc 
service  to  retain  and  employ  them  in  the  department. 

11.  The  salaries  of  men  clerks  to  commence  at  80/.  and  rise 
by  triennial  increments  to  15/.  to  200/.^ 

1  The  commission  decided  that  the  pay  of  clerks  in  the  civil  service 
was  as  high,  and  of  lower  officers  higher,  than  in  private  establish- 
ments.    See  statistics  in  appendix.  First  Playfair  Report. 


I-O  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [150 

12  Extra  pay,  not  exceeding  100/.  per  annum,  to  be  attached 
to  certain  situations  open  to  clerks  of  the  Lower  Division, 
which  involve  superior  duties. 

13.  Official  attendance  to  be  of  not  less  than  seven  hours 
per  day. 

14.  Promotion  from  the  Lower  to  the  Higher  Division  of 
the  Service  to  be  a  matter  of  rare  occurrence,  requiring  a 
certificate  from  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners,  to  be  granted 
upon  a  special  recommendation  from  the  head  of  the  depart- 
ment, and  with  the  assent  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  "  Gazette." 

Higher  Division 

15.  For  the  Higher  Division  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sioners to  hold  a  preliminary  test  examination,  open  to  all  per- 
sons above  17  years  of  age,  four  times  in  the  year,  in  London, 
Edinburgh,  and  Dublin,  at  which  the  subjecrs  should  be — 

(a)   Handwriting. 

(&)   Arithmetic,  including  vulgar  and  decimal  fractions. 

(c)   English  composition. 

{d)  Geography. 

{e)   English  History. 

16.  Candidates  who  have  passed  this  preliminary  test  exam- 
ination to  be  eligible  for  a  second  examination,  to  be  held  twice 
a  year  in  London.  This  examination  not  to  be  so  high  as 
Regulation  I,  but  to  be  competitive,  and  of  such  a  character 
as  to  suit  young  men  from  18  to  23,  adequately  trained  at  a 
public  school,  good  private  school,  or  university.  The  com- 
petition to  be  limited  to  a  small  number  of  subjects  selected 
by  the  candidates  out  of  a  list  of  subjects  prepared  by  the 
Civil  Service  Commissioners  in  consultation  wath  the  depart- 
ments. The  competition  to  determine  the  successful  candidates, 
who  shall  be  placed  in  alphabetical  order,  their  success  con- 
sisting in  this,  that  they  come  up  to  a  certain  standard  in  a 
certain  number  of  subjects,  this  standard  being  determined  by 
experience  with  reference  to  the  average  supply  of  qualified 
candidates,  and  the  average  demand  for  them. 


151]  THE  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  j-j 

17.  The  number  of  candidates  from  time  to  time  selected  to 
be  such  as  wil  suffice  to  maintain  a  Ust  somewhat  in  excess 
of  the  number  of  vacancies  expected  during  the  following  six 
months. 

18.  Any  successful  candidate  to  be  at  liberty  to  offer  him- 
self for  an  examination  in  additional  subjects,  and,  if  success- 
ful in  them,  to  have  the  fact  noted  against  his  name  in  the  list. 

19.  Candidates  placed  on  the  hst  to  be  eligible  for  appoint- 
ment in  any  department  which  has  a  vacancy,  but  to  have  no 
claim  to  an  appointment. 

20  As  vacancies  occur  in  the  several  departments,  the  head 
of  each  department  to  be  able  to  select  for  the  place  any  of 
the  candidates  on  the  list. 

21.  The  heads  of  departments  to  have  the  power  of  making 
success  in  certain. subjects  obligatory  for  obtaining  situations 
in  them. 

22.  The  successful  candidates  to  have  the  liberty  of  refus- 
ing situations  offered  to  them,  and  of  retaining  their  names 
upon  the  eligible  list  until  the  completion  of  the  25th  year  of 
their  age. 

23.  After  a  candidate  has  obtained  his  appointment,  he  is 
to  remain  on  probation  for  a  year.  During  this  probation  he 
is  to  be  required  to  go  through  carefully  and  to  master  all  the 
details  of  the  more  simple  and  routine  work  of  the  Lower 
Division.  If  his  probation  ends  in  his  rejection,  he  is  to  be 
dealt  with,  up  to  his  25th  year,  according  to  the  preceding 
Article  8. 

24  The  salaries  of  the  Higher  Division  to  commence  at 
100/.,  and  rise  by  triennial  increments  of  2)7^-  lO-^-  to  400/. 

25.  Extra  pay,  not  exceeding  200/.  per  annum,  to  be  at- 
tached to  certain  situations  in  the  Higher  Division  which  in- 
volve superior  duties. 

Staif  Appointments 

26.  Above  the  Higher  Division  of  ordinary  clerks  there  are 
to  be  staff  appointments,  including  such  officers  as  chief  clerks 
and  principal  clerks,  of  which  the  number  and  pay  would  be 
fixed  by  Order  in  Council  with  reference  to  each  department. 


1^2  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [152 

2y.  The  selection  of  men  to  fill  staff  appointments  is  to  be 
left  wholly  to  the  chiefs  of  departments,  who  may  select  either 
from  within  their  offices  or  from  the  outside.  Within  the 
offices  merit,  and  not  seniority,  is  to  be  the  condition  of  selection. 

Occasional  Copyists 

28.  Below  the  Lower  Division  of  ordinary  clerks  (including 
boy  clerks),  there  are  to  be  men  and  boy  copyists,  employed 
for  mere  copying  and  routine  work  under  direct  supervision, 
on  the  same  conditions  of  service  as  those  at  present  in  force 
for  men  and  boy  Civil  Service  writers.  Rates  of  pay  lod.,  or, 
in  some  cases,  i^.  per  hour,  but  piece-work  whenever  possible. 

General  Conditions  of  Service 

29.  Throughout  the  entire  Civil  Service,  neither  staff'  ap- 
pointments nor  extra  pay  are  to  be  given  by  seniority,  but  by 
selection  for  merit. 

30.  Throughout  the  entire  Civil  Service,  the  increments  of 
salary  are  to  be  triennial,  and  are  only  to  be  allowed  in  full 
upon  a  certificate  from  the  immediate  superior  of  each  clerk, 
countersigned  by  the  head  of  the  department  to  the  effect  that 
the  clerk's  conduct  had  been  in  all  respects  satisfactory.  In 
cases  of  great  demerit,  no  part  of  the  increment  is  to  be  allowed. 

31.  Throughout  the  entire  Civil  Service,  transfers  to  be 
made,  so  far  as  practicable,  from  the  less  important  to  the 
more  important  offices,  for  the  sake  of  encouragement;  and 
generally  to  avoid  compensations  on  abolition. 

32.  The  general  regulations  affecting  the  Civil  Service  to  be 
embodied  in  an  Act  of  Parliament. 

33.  All  appointments,  promotions,  and  transfers  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  "  London  Gazette." 

34.  Introduction  of  new  system  to  be  accelerated  by  super- 
annuations.    Transfers  difficult,  and  of  doubtful  economy. 

Special  Proposals  Considered  and  Rejected 

35.  The  following  special  proposals  were  considered  and 
rejected,  viz. : — 


IC3]  THE  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  153 

(fl)  To  group  offices,  or  divisions  of  offices,  and  to  assign 
to  each  different  kinds  of  examination. 

{b)  To  make  out  the  list  of  successful  competitors  for  the 
Higher  Division  in  order  of  merit. 

(c)   To  reserve  appointments  for  the  sons  of  civil  servants. 

{d)  To  confine  advancement  to  periodical  increases  of  sal- 
ar}',  abolishing  all  distinctions  except  staff"  appoint- 
ments. 

{e)   To  offer  high  initial  salaries. 

(/)  To  encourage  the  employment  of  discharged  soldiers  as 
clerks  in  Civil  Service,  except  in  the  War  Office, 
and  its  subordinate  departments,  and  under  military- 
officers. 

{g)  To  shorten  the  period  at  which  clerks  may  claim  to  re- 
tire on  superannuation.^ 

The  commission  claimed  that  no  additional  cost  would 
be  involved  in  the  introduction  of  the  above  scheme. 

In  general  we  may  say  that  the  first  Play  fair  report  was 
neither  clear  nor  convincing.  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  then 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  called  the  recommendations 
sweeping  and  reactionary.  Evidently  he  repented  his  own 
reactionary  instructions  to  the  commission.  He  said  that 
transfers  might  be  made  so  as  to  discourage  rather  than 
encourage  merit,  and  that  it  was  doubtful  whether  first 
class  men  would  be  attracted  by  the  division  I  scheme.  As 
a  Treasury  official,  he  decided  to  proceed  by  cautious  ex- 
periment. Sir  Charles  Trevelyan  was  displeased  with  the 
report.^  He  was  opposed  to  duty  pay,  to  reintroducing 
nominations,  and  to  special  examinations  for  special  posi- 
tions. He  said  that  an  Act  of  Parliament  should  fix  the  civil 
service,  and  that  the  slipshod  Order  in  Council  method  had 
caused  the  existing  retrogressions  from  open  competition. 

1  Second  Ridley  Report,  p.  570- 

2  See  Second  Playfair  Report,  Appendix,  p.  102. 


1^4  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [134 

He  favored  a  standing  committee  for  revision.  Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan  had  good  cause  for  protest  against  the  Play  fair 
report.  Division  I  requirements  were  to  be  lowered.  The 
creation  of  a  list  of  candidates  for  division  I,  from  which 
heads  of  departments  were  to  choose,  was  a  return  to  pat- 
ronage. Why  should  a  candidate  be  more  loyal  or  more 
tractable  because  he  was  chosen  by  the  head  of  the  office  ?  In 
what  way  would  the  heads  choose  ?  The  report  would  have 
gained  if  it  had  frankly  aimed  at  pointing  out  the  defects 
in  the  working  of  the  old  1870  scheme,  instead  of  spe- 
ciously pretending  to  set  up  a  new  one.  If  the  list  of  eligible 
candidates  for  higher  positions  was  not  to  exceed  the  aver- 
age number  to  be  absorbed  in  six  months,  what  choice  would 
remain  for  the  heads  of  less  important  departments?  The 
examinations  in  extra  subjects  could  only  cause  confusion. 
The  service-and-duty  pay  idea  was  not  bad,  but  increments 
for  time  service,  like  promotion  by  seniority,  were  in- 
evitable. The  writer  question  was  left  unsettled.  The  idea 
of  transfers  from  office  to  office  was  impracticable.  It  was 
a  dull  report,  and  the  enlightened  faith  in  open  competition 
which  had  appeared  in  previous  reports  was  entirely  lack- 
ing. The  commission  would  undoubtedly  have  voted  for 
patronage  and  nomination  if  they  had  not  been  constrained. 

A  Civil  Service  Consultative  Committee  on  the  first  Play- 
fair  report  opposed  all  the  Playfair  suggestions;  and  Dr. 
Playfair  felt  called  upon  to  justify  his  report  in  an  article 
in  The  Spectator. 

The  newspapers  of  the  day  were  very  generally  against 
the  Playfair  report,  and  feared  that  patronage  would  be 
introduced.^  Meanwhile  the  government  was  marking 
time.     In  answer  to  a  question  in  Parliament  as  to  the  in- 

'  See  Times,  Standard,  Post,  Echo,  Observer,  Hour,  etc.,  February  6, 
7,  8.  1875. 


jrr]  THE  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  155 

trodtiction  of  scheme  I  and  the  reorganization  of  depart- 
ments, Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, said  that  each  department  must  propose  its  re- 
forms individually,  and  that  the  individual  plans  would 
then  be  considered  by  the  Treasury,  but  that  there  would  be 
no  further  Order  in  Council.  A  committee  consisting  of 
Dr.  Playfair,  Lord  Mahon,  and  Mr.  Stephenson  of  the 
Treasury,  was  then  appointed  to  see  how  far  the  Playfair 
scheme  could  be  introduced  in  the  Treasury.^ 

Finally,  the  Treasury  decided  to  regulate  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  civil  service  by  a  new  Order  in  Council  which 
would  embody  the  less  debatable  Playfair  recommenda- 
tions. The  Order  in  Council  of  February  12,  1876,^  pro- 
vided : 

(i)  The  number  of  higher  clerks  to  be  reduced,  and 
their  places  filled  by  lower  division  men. 

(2)  First  division  men  to  be  appointed  only  very  rarely 
for  duties  of  a  very  high  order.  But  their  appointment  to 
be  left  to  the  heads  of  departments  and  the  Treasury,  thus 
avoiding  a  single,  straightforward  decision  on  the  Playfair 
upper  division  recommendations. 

(3)  The  new  lower  division  to  consist  of  men  and  boy 
clerks,  engaged  as  a  class,  and  ready  to  serve  in  any  de- 
partment by  appointment  or  transfer. 

(4)  Candidates  for  boy  clerkships  to  be  between  15  and 
17,  for  men  clerkships  between  17  and  20;  and  a  list  to  be 
drawn  up  in  order  of  merit,  upon  which  each  boy  com- 
petitor could  remain  until  19,  each  man  until  25. 

^  As  a  result  a  new  upper  division  was  created  in  the  Treasury  some- 
what on  the  lines  of  the  Playfair  higher  division.     See  p.  i57,  infra. 

«  This  Order  in  Council  of  February  12,  1876,  and  a  subsequent  Order 
of  June  27,  1876,  put  the  recommendations  of  the  Playfair  Commis- 
sion affecting  the  Customs  and  Internal  Revenue  departments  into 
effect. 


1^6  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [1^5 

(5)  The  number  of  probable  vacancies  for  six  months 
to  be  announced,  and  from  the  list  of  competitors  positions 
were  to  be  filled  in  order  of  merit. 

(6)  Boys  to  be  retained  in  the  service  until  19,  and  then 
dismissed  if  not  successful  in  limited  competition  for  men 
clerkships. 

(7)  The  salaries  of  men  clerks  to  begin  at  £80,  and  rise 
by  triennial  increments  of  £15  to  £200,  the  increments  being 
strictly  dependent  upon  the  production  of  a  certificate  of 
merit  from  the  immediate  superior.  But  a  higher  scale 
rising  from  £90  to  £250  to  be  provided  for  offices  in  which 
seven  hours'  work  is  required.  Boy  clerks  to  be  paid  14.S.  a 
week,  with  a  shilling  per  week  additional  per  annum  as  long 
as  employed.  Extra  pay  not  exceeding  £100  to  be  given  to 
lower  division  men  employed  upon  superior  or  supervisory 
work. 

(8)  Promotion  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  division  of 
staff  and  other  high  officials  to  be  granted  only  excep- 
tionally after  ten  years'  service,  upon  certification  by  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  and  special  recommendation  of 
the  head  of  the  department,  with  the  consent  of  the  Treas- 
ury, such  promotion  to  be  gazetted. 

(9)  A  copyist  class  of  men  and  boys,  paid  preferably  by 
piece  work,  to  be  again  instituted  to  replace  the  old  writer 
class  (and  for  no  very  good  reason). 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Order  in  Council  of  February 
12  did  not  decide  the  mooted  questions  of  the  Play  fair 
scheme  I.  It  did  not  go  on  to  prescribe  a  new  higher  divi- 
sion, but  proceeded  to  prescribe  promotions  from  the  lower 
division  just  as  if  a  higher  division  had  been  constituted. 
The  worst  feature  of  the  Order  in  Council  was  this  vague- 
ness and  indefiniteness  concerning  the  actual  constitution 
of  the  new  upper  or  higher  division.  The  Order  in  Coun- 
cil carefully  regulated  the  lower  division,  and  referred  to 


157]  -^^^  DECADE  OF  SCEPTICISM  1 57 

the  upper  as  an  accomplished  fact,  but  it  left  the  regulation 
of  the  upper  division  entirely  to  chance,  the  Treasury  and 
the  heads  of  departments.  A  few  quotations  from  the  Rid- 
ley report  of  1888  will  give  some  idea  of  the  confusion 
which  resulted : 

May  we  argue  from  that  that  the  Treasury  disapprove  of  the 
Playfair  scheme? — Of  the  upper  division,  do  you  mean? 

Have  they  ever  disapproved  of  the  Playfair  scheme  gener- 
ally?— No,  I  do  not  think  so.  The  Treasury  have  applied,  and 
are  applying,  the  lower  division  part  of  the  scheme  as  fully 
as  they  can.  The  higher  division  is  adopted,  but  it  has  been 
a  matter  of  very  great  consideration  as  to  whether  it  is  de- 
sirable to  apply  that  part  of  the  Playfair  scheme  universally. 
So  far  I  say  there  has  been  no  determination  come  to  by  the 
Government  upon  that  point. 

How  do  you  get  your  upper  clerks? — By  open  competition, 
or,  as  I  say  in  some  instances,  by  transfer  from  one  of  the 
other  offices. 

Then,  in  point  of  fact,  it  does  come  to  this,  that  the 
Treasury  disapproves  of  the  Playfair  scheme  as  applied  to 
itself? — {Lord  Lingen.)  Perhaps  the  Chairman  will  allow 
me  to  explain  the  position  of  the  matter  as  it  was  settled 
while  I  was  at  the  Treasury.  The  Playfair  Report  has  no 
independent  authority  of  its  own ;  it  is  simply  the  recommen- 
dation of  a  Commission,  except  so  far  as  it  has  been  embodied 
in  Orders  in  Council.  In  the  Order  in  Council  of  12  Feb- 
ruary, 1876,  the  Government  adopted  so  much  of  the  scheme 
as  related  to  a  lower  division,  but  left  the  constitution  of  an 
upper  division  undetermined,  except  so  far  as  to  indicate  that 
the  number  of  clerks  serving  in  the  existing  departments,  with 
salaries  above  the  scale  of  the  Playfair  Lower  Division  re- 
quired to  be  reduced.  In  the  Treasury,  in  the  Secretary  of 
State's  offices,  and  in  some  others,  the  old  system  of  salaries, 
graded  per  class,  without  duty  pay,  was  retained ;  in  other 
offices  the  Playfair  scale  with  duty  pay  for  the  higher  divi- 
sion has  been  introduced.    When  vacancies  in  the  higher  divi- 


158  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [j^g 

sion  have  to  be  filled  up,  they  are  announced  by  the  Civil 
Service  Commissioners,  and  the  terms  of  each  of  the  situa- 
tions are  known;  a  single  examination,  the  same  for  all,  is 
held,  and  the  candidates  are  free  to  choose  the  office  they 
prefer  according  to  their  place  as  determined  by  the  number 
of  their  marks.  {Sir  R.  Welby.)  Lord  Lingen  has  expressed 
more  clearly  than  I  should  have  done  the  answer  I  was  about 
to  give,  namely,  that  the  higher  division  has  not  been  adopted 
by  Order  in  Council,  which  is  the  binding  authority  upon  us. 

That  arouses  a  suspicion  in  my  mind  that  the  Treasury 
have  never  approved  of  it? — I  think  I  should  rather  say  that 
the  question  of  the  universal  application  of  the  upper  division 
of  the  Playfair  scheme  has  not  been  considered  by  the  Treas- 
ury for  the  whole  service  as  yet. 

But  do  not  you  think  it  is  high  time,  if  the  Playfair  scheme 
is  to  be  propounded  as  the  one  thing  needful  for  the  Civil 
Service,  that  after  so  many  years  there  should  be  a  decision 
about  it  one  way  or  the  other  in  all  the  high  departments? — 
Of  course  there  must  come  a  time  when  that  question  would 
have  to  be  considered.  It  is  a  very  important  question,  and 
the  Government  will  have  to  take  it  into  consideration.^ 

^Parliamentary  Papers,  1888,  xxvii,  p.  2. 


CHAPTER  VII 
The  Ridley  Investigation,  1888-1890 

The  purpose  and  personnel  of  the  Ridley  investigation  ^ 
is  seen  in  the  patent  of  appointment: 

Now  know  ye,  that  We,  reposing  great  trust  and  confidence 
in  your  knowledge  and  ability,  have  authorised  and  appointed, 
and  do  by  these  presents  authorise  and  appoint  you,  the  said 
Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Adelbert  Wellington  Brownlow, 
Earl  Brownlow,  Nathaniel  Mayer,  Baron  Rothschild,  Ralph 
Robert  Wheeler,  Baron  Lingen,  George  Sclater-Booth,  Henry 
Hartley  Fowler,  Sir  Edward  Cecil  Guinness,  xA.lgernon  Ber- 
tram Freeman  Mitford,  John  Cleghorn,  Alfred  Spalding  Har- 
vey, Charles  Edward  Lewis,  Arthur  O'Connor,  and  Peter 
Rylands,  to  be  our  Commissioners  for  the  purposes  of  the 
said  inquiry. 

And  We  do  hereby  authorise  and  empower  you,  or  any 
five  or  more  of  you,  to  inquire  into  the  numbers,  salaries, 
hours  of  labour,  superannuation,  cost  of  the  staff,  and  the 
administration,  regulation,  and  organisation  of  the  said  ofiBces. 

You  will  state  whether,  in  your  opinion,  the  work  of  the 
different  offices  is  efficiently  and  economically  performed ; 
whether  it  can  be  simplified ;  whether  the  method  of  proce- 
dure can  be  improved ;  and  whether  the  system  of  control  is 
deficient  or  unnecessarily  elaborate. 

1  The  volumes  of  the  Ridley  report  are  found  in  Parliamentary 
Papers,  1887,  xix;  1888,  xxvii ;  1889,  xxi,  and  i8go,  xxvii.  They  will 
be  referred  to  in  this  chapter  as  to  First  Ridley  Report,  Second  Ridley 
Report,  etc. 

159]  159 


l6o  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [i6o 

As  ten  years  have  now  elapsed  since  the  adoption  of  the 
scheme  of  organisation  recommended  by  the  Playfair  Com- 
mission, the  time  has  come  when  the  working  of  the  scheme 
may,  with  advantage,  be  reviewed.  You  will,  therefore,  re- 
port whether  the  scheme  has  been  fairly  tried ;  whether  its 
provisions  have  met  the  requirements  of  the  Service,  and  de- 
serve confirmation,  and  whether  any  modifications  are  needed 
to  give  it  complete  development. 

The  report  was  in  four  parts.  The  first  related  to  the 
organization  of  the  War  and  Admiralty  departments;  the 
second,  which  is  the  one  of  greatest  importance  for  this 
essay,  review^ed  the  Playfair  report,  commented  upon  its 
effects  in  operation  and  suggested  changes.  The  third  re- 
port had  to  do  with  the  organization  of  the  Customs  and 
Excise  departments.  The  fourth  and  final  report  was  on 
the  Foreign  Office  and  the  diplomatic  and  consular  services. 
We  shall  deal  briefly  with  the  first,  third  and  fourth  re- 
ports, and  then  pass  on  to  the  review  of  the  Playfair  scheme 
in  the  second  report. 

Constant  reorganization  in  the  War  Office  and  Admir- 
alty, without  regard  to  economy,  had  resulted  in  an  enor- 
mous overstaffing,  and  the  commission  recommended  a 
new  organization  and  greater  Treasury  control,  together 
with  the  immediate  reduction  of  the  number  of  higher 
clerks.  The  remaining  evidence  in  the  first  report  shows 
that  the  War  Office  and  Admiralty  clerks  had  the  same 
grievances  as  the  clerical  staff  elsewhere.  The  classes  ten- 
ded to  overlap,  the  lower  class  being  employed  on  superior 
work,  and  vice  versa,  with  resulting  overpay  on  the  one 
hand,  and  complaints  about  pay  and  prospects  on  the  other. 
Below  the  permanent  staff,  the  temporary  draughtsmen 
complained  that  they  really  were  employed  on  responsible 
work,  and  wanted  to  be  established.  As  usual,  the  lower 
division  clerks  claimed  that  their  work  was  difficult  and 


l6i]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  l6l 

supervisory;  and  they  protested  against  the  rule  for  ten 
years'  service  before  promotion.  The  government  attitude  ^ 
toward  these  complaints  was  based  on  the  theory  that  only 
a  very  few  of  the  lower  division  clerks  were  fitted  to  rise 
to  the  upper  division,  because  they  lacked  a  sufficiently  high 
education.  This  subject  belongs  properly  to  the  third  re- 
port. As  we  shall  see,  the  questions  of  upper  and  lower 
divisions  had  been  left  in  an  extraordinary  state  of  con- 
fusion and  vagueness  after  the  Playfair  report. 

In  its  third  report  the  commission  decided  that  so  im- 
portant an  experiment  as  the  amalgamation  of  the  Customs 
and  Excise  departments  was  not  justified.  They  feared 
that  the  amalgamation  would  result  in  a  leveling-up  of  sal- 
aries and  would  create  an  unwieldy  department,  whose 
chairmanship  w^ould  tend  to  become  a  political  office.  After 
hearing  the  complaints  of  employees,  the  commission  wisely 
refrained  from  giving  opinions  adverse  to  those  of  the 
responsible  heads  of  offices.  They  did,  however,  lay  down 
the  rule  that  no  subordinate  officer  is  entitled  to  compensa- 
tion because  the  number  of  higher  offices  for  which  he  has 
been  eligible  has  been  reduced.  A  minority  of  the  commis- 
sion, in  a  separate  report,  recommended  the  amalgamation 
of  the  Customs  and  Excise,  agreeing  with  Mr.  Gladstone — 
and  their  judgment  has  recently  been  vindicated.  The  long 
expected  amalgamation  took  place  in  1909.  and  the  reor- 
ganization was  completed  in  191 1  by  the  report  of  a  com- 
mittee of  which  Mr.  C.  E.  H.  Hobhouse,  M.  P.,  was  chair- 
man. This  was  known  as  the  Hobhouse  report,  and  was 
adopted  by  the  Treasury.^ 

The  fourth  Ridley  report  on  the  Foreign  Office  recom- 
mended that  limited  competition  should  be  maintained  and 

'  See  evidence  of  Sir  R.  E.  Welby,  First  Ridley  Report,  p.  5- 
2  See  p.  187,  infra. 


1 62  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [162 

that  the  Foreign  Office  and  diplomatic  service  should  be,  as 
far  as  possible,  amalgamated  by  interchange  of  officials.  It 
condemned  the  requirement  of  an  independent  income  for 
diplomats.  It  urged  two  years'  training  for  all  diplomats 
in  the  Foreign  Office  before  being  sent  abroad;  uniform 
salaries  for  both  Foreign  Office  and  diplomatic  service; 
and  the  regular  system  of  pensions  governing  all  other  de- 
partments in  place  of  a  peculiar  one.  It  recommended  that 
consuls,  hitherto  appointed  by  patronage,  be  selected  by  pass 
examination  of  men  of  experience  between  twenty-five  and 
forty  years  of  age,  who  should  first  be  employed  in  the  For- 
eign Office,  Board  of  Trade  and  Revenue  departments  to 
get  specialized  business  knowledge.  The  writer  has  been 
unable  to  find  that  any  of  these  recommendations  were 
adopted  at  this  time.  None  of  the  Ridley  ideas  appear  in 
the  new  regulations  of  the  Foreign  Office  for  1891.  This 
is  an  example  of  the  ineffectiveness  of  commission  sugges- 
tions to  departments  not  under  the  Treasury.  In  recent 
years  something  like  the  Ridley  plan  has  been  adopted,  but 
the  complete  fusion  of  the  two  departments  has  not  been 
realized,  and  is  probably  not  desirable. 

We  turn  now  to  the  review  of  the  Playfair  scheme  in  the 
second  report.  The  commission  reported  that  an  honest 
attempt  had  been  made  to  comply  with  Dr.  Playfair's  sug- 
gestion, but  that  difficulties  had  been  encountered.  It  was 
difficult  to  reduce  numbers  in  the  upper  division,  and  many 
of  the  old  upper  division  men  were  still  hanging  on,  though 
performing  only  lower  division  work. 

The  commission  pointed  out  that  the  key  of  the  Playfair 
scheme  was  the  division  of  work  between  a  higher  and  a 
lower  division,  the  small  and  highly  educated  higher  divi- 
sion to  do  the  work  which  involved  "responsibility,  discre- 
tion and  power  to  direct  work,"  and  to  be  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  the  large  lower  division. 


163]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  163 

The  commission  then  reported  that : 

Subject  to  the  important  qualification  of  the  different 
needs  of  different  offices,  this  principle  of  a  division  of  labor 
has  the  sanction  of  almost  every  experienced  administrator 
from  whom  we  received  evidence.  In  practice,  however,  the 
work  has  overlapped,  and  although  the  reasons  of  the  failure 
to  preserve  this  principle  of  a  division  of  labour,  lie  partly  in 
the  fact,  already  alluded  to,  of  the  large  existing  number  of 
highly-paid  clerks  both  of  the  old  establishment,  and,  in  some 
cases,  of  the  new  Higher  Division,  and  of  the  insufficient  time 
as  yet  allowed  for  the  new  classification  to  develop,  it  is  un- 
deniable that  the  line  of  demarcation  has  been  drazvn  too  low; 
that  the  bulk  of  the  Lower  Division  clerks  are  not  contented 
with  their  position  and  prospects,  and  that,  so  far  as  can  be 
judged  from  experience  of  the  past  twelve  years,  i.  c.,  since 
the  date  of  the  Order  in  Council  of  12th  February,  1876,  a 
considerable  proportion  of  those  clerks  are  fitted  to  fill  a  large 
number  of  places  now  unnecessarily  reserved  for  the  Upper 
Division,^ 

We  are  of  opinion  that  the  purely  clerical  work  of  the  ser- 
vice can  be,  and  therefore  ought  to  be,  done  by  one  class  of 
clerks,  viz.,  those  entering  upon  the  present  lower  examina- 
tion, and  we  think  that  the  door  of  promotion  to  all  the  upper 
posts  should  be  open  to  any  clerk  who  has  shown  that  he 
possesses  the  necessary  qualifications  for  discharging  the  duties 
of  them  efficiently. 

We  have,  however,  no  doubt  that  it  will  always  be  neces- 
sary to  introduce  a  very  limited  number  of  men  by  means  of 
a  higher  examination,  to  fill  directly  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant posts  of  the  public  service. 

We  think  it  an  object  of  the  most  serious  importance  that 
men  of  the  same  standard  of  liberal  education  as  those  who 
now  adopt  the  open  professions  should  be  attracted  into  the 

'  Note  that  "  higher  "  and  "  upper "  are  used  without  discrimination. 
Cf.  pp.  156-158  supra  and  p.  167  infra. 


164  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [164 

public  service,  and  trained  there,  for  selection  for  the  highest 
permanent  posts. 

There  need  not  be  the  same  proportion  in  all  Government 
offices  between  the  two  classes,  and  probably,  in  some,  as  e.  g., 
the  Revenue  Departments,  it  may  be  found  that  all  the  neces- 
sary supervision,  and  higher  work,  can  be  done  by  men  ad- 
mitted under  the  lower  examination.^  Upon  this  point  we 
would  draw  special  attention  to  the  evidence  given  by  Sir  A. 
West  and  Sir  C.  Du  Cane.  Among  the  reasons  which  have 
led  us  to  this  conclusion,  we  may  specify  the  technical  char- 
acter of  most  of  the  work  in  the  Revenue  Departments,  and 
also  the  large  number  of  officers  from  whom  selection  can  be 
made.  Promotion  by  merit  alone  is  assumed  by  us  in  the 
adoption  of  any  such  plan. 

There  are  departments,  on  the  other  hand,  such  as  the 
Treasury,  the  offices  of  the  Secretaries  of  State,  and  some  of 
the  other  principal  offices,  in  which  it  is  clearly  necessary  to 
have  a  larger  proportion  than  in  others  of  men  of  more  liberal 
culture  in  order  to  discharge  satisfactorily  the  consultative 
and  deliberative  work  of  those  offices.  Generally,  however,  it 
cannot  be  too  emphatically  stated  that  the  bulk  of  the  work 
in  all  the  Government  offices  can  satisfactorily  be  done  by 
clerks  who  have  received  an  ordinary  commercial  education, 
and  that  Government  clerical  work  does  not  differ  materially 
from  that  done  by  clerks  in  large  commercial  establishments. 
Among  men  of  this  stamp  we  may  fairly  expect  to  find  some 
capable  of  discharging  the  ordinary  duties  of  supervision, 
while  beyond  the  sphere  of  clerical  work,  the  position  meant 
to  be  occupied  by  members  of  the  Upper  Division,  involves 
duties  more  nearly  akin  to  those  of  management. 

Bearing  in  mind  these  guiding  principles,  we  recommend 

'  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  opinion  is  no  longer  entertained. 
The  Revenue  Departments  have  required  more  and  more  highly  trained 
clerks,  and  the  result  has  been  that  two  divisions  above  the  old 
second  division  are  now  employed  in  certain  offices  of  the  Customs 
and  Internal  Revenue.  (See  discussion  of  intermediate  and  first 
division  clerks  in  the  next  chapter). 


165]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  1 65 

that  the  character  and  special  wants  of  each  department  should 
be  carefully  considered,  and  a  normal  establishment  for  each 
should  be,  so  far  as  practicable,  defined.  In  aiming  at  such 
a  standard,  use  should  be  made  as  far  as  possible  of  existing 
material,  both  within  and  without  the  particular  department. 

We  are  not  insensible  to  the  objection  that,  for  some  time 
to  come,  there  will  be  very  few  young  men,  if  any,  coming 
into  the  Service  by  means  of  the  higher  examination.  Nor  do 
we  think  that  the  work  will  be  so  efficiently  done,  as  it  will 
be  when  the  system  has  had  time  to  be  thoroughly  developed ; 
but  we  have  to  deal  with  an  existing  Service,  and  we  cannot 
recommend  so  large  an  addition  to  the  non-effective  charge  as 
would  be  involved  in  the  removal  of  a  considerable  number  of 
the  existing  staff  upon  the  only  terms  now  open  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  commission  added  that  an  Order  in  Council,  promul- 
gated by  the  Treasury,  should  fix  the  normal  establishments 
of  all  departments,  that  the  best  methods  of  effecting  the 
necessary  changes  and  all  questions  including  pensions  and 
increases  in  expenditures  should  in  each  case  be  determined 
by  a  permanent  committee  consisting  of  a  Treasury  official, 
a  civil  service  commissioner,  and  at  least  one  permanent 
official  of  the  great  Revenue  departments.  This  committee 
should  also  review  all  offices  periodically  in  the  interests  of 
harmony,  economy  and  standardization.  We  shall  see  that 
the  Lords  of  the  Treasury  first  repudiated  this  suggestion, 
but  soon  after  changed  their  minds  and  adopted  it  in  an 
Order  in  Council.^ 

The  commission  commented  on  the  difficulties  of  effect- 
ing transfers  and  of  getting  rid  of  redundants  by  transfer 
or  pension.    They  said  that  the  suspension  of  examinations 

^  It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  note  the  recent  attempts  of 
President  Taft  and  his  Efficiency  Commission  to  set  up  such  a 
standardizing  agency  in  Washington.     See  p.  256  infra. 


1 66  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [i66 

for  the  upper  division  could  not  be  helped,  and  trusted  that 
these  would  be  more  frequent  when  prospects  throughout 
the  service  had  been  equalized. 

Passing  on  to  the  lower  division  clerks,  the  commission 
said: 

As  stated  in  our  former  Report,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the 
young  men  of  this  grade  who  have  entered  the  Service  since 
the  Order  in  Council  of  1876  have  been  of  excellent  quality 
and  capacity.  All  the  evidence  we  have  received  points  in 
this  direction.  We  are  not  surprised,  however,  to  find  tliat, 
partly  owing  to  the  keenness  of  the  competition  and  the  ex- 
pectations aroused  by  success  in  it,  there  is,  on  the  whole,  con- 
siderable disappointment  felt  in  regard  to  the  prospects  of 
promotion ;  and  in  some  departments  this  is,  no  doubt,  and 
must  for  some  time  remain,  a  serious  evil.  It  is  out  of  the 
question,  however,  to  promote  clerks  when  higher-paid  service 
is  not  required,  simply  in  order  to  provide  advancement  for 
them ;  and  though  individual  men  in  this  class  are  probably 
fit  for,  and  are  in  fact  employed  in  some  instances  upon, 
higher  work  than  would  appear  to  have  been  contemplated  in 
the  Order  of  Council,  it  is  our  opinion  that  this  part  of  the 
clerical  service  is,  on  the  whole,  not  inadequately  remunerated. 

We  think  that  routine  promotion  by  seniority  is  the  great 
evil  of  the  Service,  and  that  it  is  indispensable  to  proceed 
throughout  every  branch  of  it  strictly  on  the  principle  of  pro- 
motion by  merit,  that  is  to  say,  by  selecting  always  the  fittest 
man,  instead  of  considering  claims  in  order  of  seniority,  and 
rejecting  only  the  unfit. 

It  is  no  doubt  true  that  objections  on  the  score  of  favouri- 
tism may  arise  in  the  application  of  such  a  rule  in  public  de- 
partments, and  the  intervention  of  Members  of  Parliament 
also  presents  an  obvious  difficulty,  but  we  think  that  such 
constant  vigilance,  tact,  and  resolution,  as  may  fairly  be  ex- 
pected on  the  part  of  heads  of  branches  and  of  offices,  will 
meet  these  objections,  and  we  believe  that  the  certain  ad- 
vantages of  promotion  by  merit  to  the  most  deserving  men, 


167]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  1 67 

and  therefore  to  the  pubHc  service,  are  so  great  as  to  be  sure, 
in  the  long  run,  to  command  pubhc  support. 

We  recommend  that  the  Lower  Division,  constituting,  as  it 
now  does,  and  as  it  will  in  a  still  greater  measure  in  future, 
the  clerical  establishment  of  the  various  offices,  should  be  re- 
cruited from  young  men  of  the  same  age  as  at  present,  and 
under  the  existing  regulations. 

That  the  character  of  the  examination  should  not  be  raised, 
as  it  appears  now  to  afford  a  sufficient  test  of  a  good  com- 
mercial education. 

The  commission  recommended  several  other  second  di- 
vision changes : 

That  shorthand  and  a  modern  foreign  language  be  in- 
cluded as  optional  subjects. 

That  the  first  year's  probation  be  made  real,  since  a  com- 
petitive examination  does  not  always  insure  fitness. 

New  salaries  with  annual  instead  of  triennial  increments 
— an  initial  salary  of  £70  rising  by  £5  to  £100,  and  by 
£7  los.  to  £190  with  certificates  of  merit,  and  special  re- 
ports of  competence  on  reaching  £100  and  £190. 

A  seven-hour  day.  Abolition  of  duty  pay  and  opening 
of  more  staff  places  to  second  division  men,  but  only  after 
ten  years'  service  as  recommended  in  the  Playfair  report. 

That  the  lower  division  be  called  the  second  division — 
there  being  objections  on  the  part  of  clerks  to  the  existing 
name. 

A  very  curious  thing  in  connection  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  civil  service  which  appears  throughout  the  Rid- 
ley report  and  in  all  the  discussions  of  this  period,  is  the 
confusion  caused  by  the  words  "  upper  division "  and 
"  higher  division  ".  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Dr.  Play- 
fair  used  the  terms  "upper  division"  and  "higher  division" 
indiscriminately,  to  indicate  the  directing  positions  filled  by 
university  men  who  entered  by  a  separate  academic  exami- 


l68  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [i68 

nation.  The  Order  in  Council  of  1876  did  not  embod}^  the 
Playfair  scheme  and  salaries  for  the  higher  division.  Some 
offices  had  adopted  the  higher  Playfair  scheme  and  salaries, 
but  the  Treasury  and  other  departments  were  employing 
so-called  upper  division  men  at  salaries  greater  than  the 
Playfair  higher  division  men;  and  in  other  departments 
the  upper  division  probably  consisted  of  superior,  lower  di- 
vision clerks.  The  Ridley  report  put  an  end  to  this  con- 
fusion : 

We  recommend  that,  upon  the  occurrence  of  vacancies,  all 
new  appointments  to  the  greatly  reduced  Upper  Division 
which  we  propose,  should  be  made  on  the  scale  set  forth  in 
para.  56  of  this  Report. 

We  are  of  opinion,  that  it  is  desirable  to  secure  young  men 
of  more  liberal  education  for  those  posts  in  the  Service,  zvhich 
are  not  simply  clerical,  but  demand  a  zvider  and  more  culti- 
vated view  of  public  affairs  than  can  as  a  rule  be  expected 
from  youths  entering  by  the  lozver  examination.  We  agree 
with  the  Playfair  Commission,  that  the  best  preparation  for  the 
Upper  Division  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  purely  clerical  routine 
of  the  ordinary  clerkships,  though  there  may  be  exceptions; 
and  while  zee  desire  to  leave  the  heads  of  offices  a  free  choice 
among  all  clerks  in  the  service,  zve  think  that  a  strict  line  can, 
and  ought  to  be,  drazcm  betzveen  the  zi'ork  of  the  tzvo  Divisions. 
The  Upper  Division,  however,  should  be  very  much  smaller 
than  at  present,  and  in  some  offices  need  not  exist  at  all.^ 

^A  few  quotations  will  show  that  the  views  of  heads  of  offices,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  lower  division  clerks,  as  to  the  desirability  or 
necessity  of  retaining  a  university-bred  first  division,  were  very  similar 
to  those  elicited  in  former  reports : 

The  lower  division  clerks  said : 

"  The  necessity  of  conciseness  precludes  a  full  statement  of  the  ob- 
jections to  a  division  of  the  clerical  stafif  into  severely  defined  classes 
with  a  practically  insuperable  barrier  between  them.  This  much, 
however,  may  perhaps  be  said : — such  a  barrier  is  unnecessary  to  pre- 
vent incompetent  men  rising,  its  only  possible  object;  it  is  unparalleled 


169]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  1 69 

We  are  of  opinion  that,  on  the  whole,  open  competition  is 

in  modern  organizations  of  men;  it  is  impolitic,  in  stifling  instead  of 
stimulating  effort;  and  ungenerous,  in  impeding  men  who  are  suffi- 
ciently handicapped  in  their  career  by  their  lack  of  a  university 
education. 

The  framers  of  the  Playfair  Scheme  must  have  forgotten  that  no 
machinery  or  supervision,  however  elaborate,  can  so  well  promote 
economy  and  efficiency  in  large  establishments  as  contented  officials, 
animated  by  hope  and  pride  in  their  work. 

The  more  sentimental  though  not  less  vital  objection  may  be  dis- 
missed in  a  few  words.  The  Class  I.  Clerks  occupy  separate  rooms, 
have  a  luncheon  room,  keep  a  record  of  attendance  in  a  different 
manner,  use  separate  lavatories,  &c.,  have  nearly  double  the  annual 
leave  of  Lower  Division  Clerks,  and  are  altogether  treated  as  a  su- 
perior race  of  beings.  As  a  consequence,  the  Supplementary  and 
Lower  Division  Clerks  are  perpetually  reminded  of  their  inferior 
status.  That  this  has  an  injurious  effect  is  obvious."  (Second 
Ridley  Report,  Appendix,  p.  528.) 

The  permanent  heads  of  offices,  defended  the  division  into  classes 
as  follows  : 

"  The  contention  on  the  part  of  the  lower  division  clerks  that  there 
should  be  no  distinction  between  the  higher  and  the  lower  division, 
that  all  clerks  should  be  admitted  by  the  same  examination,  and  that 
the  higher  should  be  solely  recruited  from  the  lower,  cannot  be  too 
steadily  resisted.  There  should  not  be  any  bar  to  the  selection  for  the 
higher  division  of  a  clerk  of  the  lower  division  who  is  thoroughly 
competent  to  discharge  its  duties.  Nor  is  there  any  such  bar  except 
for  a  short  period.  But  to  admit  a  presumptive  right  on  the  part  of 
every  clerk  in  the  lower  division  to  rise  into  the  higher,  would  be  to 
land  the  Government  unnecessarily  in  largely  increased  expense,  to 
interfere  most  seriously  with  the  efficiency  of  the  administration,  and 
to  bring  back  and  make  general  throughout  the  service  all  the  dis- 
content and  stagnation  of  promotion  which  existed  in  these  offices,  such 
as  the  War  Office,  Admiralty,  and  Customs,  in  which  formerly  there 
was  only  one  homogeneous  class  of  clerks.  As  is  pointed  out  in  the 
paragraph  of  the  Playfair  Commission  Report,  to  which  I  have  di- 
rec.ed  special  attention,  the  performance  of  routine  duties  is  not  only 
not  a  good  training  for  the  higher  posts  of  the  service,  but,  as  a  rule, 
it  is  a  bad  training,  and  the  State  would,  in  my  opinion,  act  very 
foolishly  if,  with  the  whole  world  to  choose  from,  it  contented  itself 
with  the  very  moderate  material  for  the  higher  posts  in  the  service, 
which  the  lower  division  can  supply."     {Ibid.,  p.  423.) 

"  {Chairman.)     Supposing  there  was  an  adequate  flow  of  promotion 


lyo  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [170 

the  best  method  of  selection,  and  that  the  Hmits  of  age  should 

in  the  office,  and  supposing  there  was  not  this  stagnation  which  kept 
the  lower  division  clerk  on  at  the  same  daily  work  all  his  Hfe,  if  you 
can  imagine  that  out  of  the  way  could  you  see  any  reason  why  in  the 
work  of  the  War  Office  there  should  be  any  distinction  between  the 
work  of  the  upper  and  lower  division  clerks  such  as  exists  between 
the  commissioned  and  non-commissioned  officers  in  the  army? — Cer- 
tainly; and  for  this  reason,  because,  more  particularly  in  the  War 
Office  than  in  the  other  offices,  the  present  War  Office  is  amalgamated 
out  of  a  large  number  of  offices,  and  a  great  portion  of  this  depart- 
ment is  superintended  by  military  officers,  men  of  good  social  posi- 
tion and  education,  and  considerable  intelligence  and  ability,  selected 
to  superintend  the  rooms  of  the  military  branch.  The  War  Office 
men  to  hold  their  own  against  those  men  in  argument  and  discussion 
must  be  men  of  the  same  kind  socially  and  in  ability  and  I  believe 
that  you  cannot  attain  that  by  means  of  the  lower  division. 

Taking  a  man  who  has  passed  the  competitive  examination  of  the 
lower  division  and  been  trained  for  some  years  in  the  War  Office,  and 
who  thoroughly  understands  the  detail,  what  is  there  to  disqualify 
him  from  discharging  the  duties  of  principal  in  the  department  in 
which  he  would  be  placed? — I  think  he  has  not  been  educationally 
trained  to  take  that  breadth  of  view  that  is  necessary  for  a  man  who 
is  in  a  responsible  position  of  principal  or  even  a  lower  position  than 
that."     (Ibid.,  p.  392.) 

"  Then,  is  the  introduction  of  men  of  university  standing  under  the 
Playfair  schemes  in  your  opinion,  a  good  thing  for  the  Service? — 
Yes,  I  think  it  is. 

Do  you  think  that  such  men  are  really  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
public  service,  and  necessary  to  the  public  service? — Yes. 

(Mr.  Cleghorn.)  Am  I  right  in  supposing  that  you  think  their 
numbers  should  be  few? — Yes.  I  think  that  the  number  of  the  higher 
division  clerks  could  certainly  be  reduced."     (Ibid.,  p.  397.) 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  following  summary  of  the  work  of  the 
Upper  division  (corresponding  to  Playfair's  first  division)  men  in 
the  Treasury  submitted  by  the  Treasury  heads  to  the  Ridley  Com- 
mission. The  necessity  of  a  high  order  of  intellectual  training  is 
evident.  The  only  question  which  would  immediately  strike  a  German 
or  American  observer  is,  whether  a  training  in  economics  and  finance 
should  not  be  a  requisite  for  Treasury  positions.  Thus  far,  how- 
ever, the  English  Treasury  has  been  successful  in  selecting  first  class 
university  men  without  special  economic  training,  and  giving  them  the 
necessary  practical  experience  in  the  first  years  of  apprenticeship  in 
the  service. 


I^i]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  17I 

be  20-24.    As  a  rule,  the  older  men  will  be  successful,  a  result 

"  The  Upper  Division  are  charged  with  the  deliberative  and  execu- 
tive work  of  the  Treasury. 
The  work  is  divided  as  follows : — 

First  Division. 
Finance  generally.     Banking  and  Currency.     Mint.     Exchequer  and 
Audit.      Paymaster      General      (including     the      Irish      Branch). 
Queen's  and  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer,  Scotland,  for  finan- 
cial business.     Bank  of   England.     National   Debt   Commissioners. 
Public    Works   Loan    Commissioners.     Ordinary    applications    for 
issues  from  the  grants  of  Parliament,  or  the  Consolidated  Fund, 
or  the  Treasury   Chest   Fund.     Treasury  Audit.     Treasury   Chest 
abroad.     Estimates  for  Civil  Services,  Revenue  Departments,  and 
Votes   of   Credit.     Metropolitan    Board   of   Works.     Local   Loans. 
Guaranteed  Loans.     Sinking  Fund  Accounts.     Moreover,  the  Ac- 
countant  and   his   staff   keep   the   accounts   of    all    Exchequer    re- 
ceipts   and    issues:    direct    the    issues:    prepare    the    Consol  dated 
Fund  Charge:  keep  the  accounts  of  the  Votes  administered  by  the 
Treasury,  and  of  the  Civil  Contingencies  Fund,  &c.,  &c. 
The  head  of  the  First  Division  is  especially  the  clerk  of  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer.     His  main  function  is  to  see,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Chancellor,  that  money  is  at  all  times  ready  to 
meet  Imperial  demands  at  home  and  abroad. 
The  First  Division  is  the  point  of  contact  between  the  annual  Select 
Committee  of  Public  Accounts  and  the  Treasury ;  one  of  the  most 
important  duties  of  the  Principal   Clerk  being  attendance  at  the 
sessions  of  that  Committee,  when  he  occupies  a  special  position 
and  is  expected  to  be  ready  to  state  the  views  of  the  Treasury 
upon  all  points  which  may  arise.     For  this  reason,  as  well  as  from 
finance  being  its  special  domain,  it  belongs  to  the  First  Division 
to   suggest   and   enjoin    the   principles   which   the    other    divisions 
are  to  apply  in  their  dealings  with  the  spending  departments. 
One  of  the  First  Class  Clerks  is  specially  charged  with  the  prepara- 
tion  of   the   Estimates    for    Civil    Services    and    Revenue    Depart- 
ments: and  it  is  his  duty  to  attend  all  sittings  of  the  House  of 
Commons  when  these  Estimates  are  under  discussion,  and  to  pre- 
pare  information    to    enable   the    Financial    Secretary    to    answer 
questions  and  give  explanations  thereon. 
Second  Division. 
Correspondence    with    Foreign    Office,    Colonial    Office,    War    Office. 
Admiralty,    Chelsea    Hospital.     Woods    and    Forests.     Duchies    of 
Cornwall  and  Lancaster.     Municipal  Corporations.     Slave  Trade." 
(Ibid.,  Appendix.) 


172  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [172 

which  we  should  prefer.  A  marked  distinction  in  age  facili- 
tates the  working  of  an  Upper  Division. 

We  are  disposed  to  doubt  whether  undue  weight  is  not  now 
given  in  the  examination  for  the  Upper  Division,  to  extensive 
information,  as  distinguished  from  accurate  knowledge,  and 
we  suggest  that  the  subjects  for  examination  should  be 
grouped  in  some  such  manner  as  they  are  in  the  Final  Schools 
at  the  Universities,  and  that  no  candidate  should  be  admitted 
to  more  than  two  groups  at  most. 

To  attract  men  of  this  standing  and  capacity,  we  think 
that  200/.  should  be  the  initial  salary.  And  that  the  scale 
should  be : — 

£  £         £ 

3rd  grade  200  by  an  annual  increment  of  20  to  500. 
2nd      "       600  by  "  "  25  to  800. 

1st       "       850  by  "  "  50  to  1,000. 

There  should  be  no  duty  pay  for  the  First,  any  more  than 
for  the  Second  Division,  and  the  hours  of  attendance  should 
in  future  be  seven,  at  the  least.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  nciv  First  Division  zvill  be  very  much  smaller  than 
the  present  Upper  Division,  and  that  the  salaries  now  sug- 
gested zvill  be  paid  only  for  the  same  kind  of  zvork  as  is  nozv 
being  done  by  the  higher  grades  of  the  Upper  Division. 

There  should  be  a  strict  probation  for  two  years,  during 
which  time  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  that  a  man's  official 
aptitude,  or  the  reverse,  will  be  discovered.  There  should, 
however,  be  no  hesitation  in  getting  rid  of  any  man  who  does 
not  show  the  requisite  qualities  for  official  work  within  this 
period.  This  condition  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to 
guard  the  public  service  against  the  introduction  of  men  who 
have  no  other  aptitude  than  that  of  being  able  to  succeed  in  a 
literary  examination. 

It  should  therefore  be  clearly  made  known  to  all  competitors 
that  fitness  for  office  work  will  be  necessary  to  secure  them 
continuance  in  the  public  service. 


^73]  -^^^  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  1 73 

The  same  test  of  fitness  should,  in  principle,  be  applied  at 
each  of  the  steps  or  grades,  and  it  should  be  recognized  that 
advancement  to  a  higher  grade  is  not  a  matter  of  right.  The 
numbers  in  each  of  the  grades  of  the  First  Division  should  be 
laid  down  for  each  office ;  and  promotion  from  each  grade 
should  only  take  place  upon  the  conditions  (a)  that  there  is 
a  vacancy  in  the  grade  above;  (b)  that  the  work  of  the  de- 
partment requires  the  vacancy  to  be  filled  up;  (c)  that  the 
particular  clerk  proposed  to  be  promoted  has  been  reported  fit 
to  discharge  the  higher  duties  he  will  have  to  undertake.  To 
some  men,  500/,  will  be  the  limit,  to  some  800/.,  whilst  only 
the  best  will  attain  to  the  maximum  of  the  scale. 

The  scale  of  salary  we  have  suggested  is,  in  our  opinion, 
sufficient  to  secure  good  candidates  for  all  the  competitive 
upper  posts  in  all  the  offices,  without  exception.  And  open 
competition  should  therefore,  in  future,  be  universally  com- 
pulsory, wherever  men  of  this  class  are  required. 

There  will  still  be  certain  special  appointments  requiring 
professional  or  technical  knowledge,  which  cannot  be  satisfac- 
torily filled  by  open  competition.  These  should  be  scheduled, 
and  it  might  be  desirable  to  fix  a  minimum  and  maximum  of 
age,  say  25-40. 

As  regards  the  distinction  between  the  work  of  the  present 
Upper  and  Lower  Divisions,  it  is  alleged  that  difficulties  have 
arisen,  and  must  arise,  from  the  fact  that  the  Upper  Division 
clerks  are,  as  it  were,  apprenticed  for  a  time  to  work  with 
the  Lower  Division,  thereby  causing  jealousies  and  a  sense  of 
inequality,  especially  when  the  latter  are  much  older  men.  It 
appears  to  us  that  with  a  very  small  Upper  or  First  Division, 
such  as  we  now  propose,  it  will  generally  be  possible  to  em- 
ploy the  probationers  with  their  seniors  in  that  Division;  and 
we  conceive  that  if  certain  work  be  clearly  defined  as  Upper 
or  First  Division  work  (such,  e.  g.,  as  dealing  with  papers 
which  have  arrived  at  a  certain  stage),  there  ought  to  be  no 
difficulty  in  apportioning  it  to  men  of  the  calibre  we  have 
indicated. 


174  '^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [174 

Finally,  the  Ridley  Commission  dealt  with  the  old  ques- 
tion of  the  employment  of  copyists  and  their  grievances, 
regretted  that  the  Playfair  recommendations  had  not  been 
carried  out  and  that  over  1,200  copyists  were  still  em- 
ployed, many  upon  superior  work  and  for  long  periods,  and 
suggested  that  in  the  future  their  work  be  turned  over  to 
junior  second  division  clerks,  and  to  boy  clerks  recruited 
by  competition.  They  suggested  that  the  employment  of 
women  should  be  extended,  especially  as  typewriters.  The 
concluding  pages  of  the  report  deal  with  questions  of  super- 
annuation. The  commission  recommended  that  the  exist- 
ing system  be  maintained,^  excepting  that  there  be  a  com- 
pulsory deduction  of  5  per  cent  from  all  future  salaries. 
They  denied  that  pensions,  as  then  constituted,  were  de- 
ferred pay,  and  they  suggested  that  the  law  ^  which  gave 
the  Treasury  power  to  pension  off  useless,  inefficient  or  re- 
dundant employees,  should  be  revoked.  Compulsory  retire- 
ment at  65  was  suggested,  and  the  practice  of  adding  a 

'  On  the  history  of  pensions  in  the  English  civil  service,  see  the 
memorial  by  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Second 
Ridley  Report;  also  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  1857  on  the 
Superannuation  Act;  also  a  Report  of  President  Taft's  Commission 
on  Economy  and  Efficiency  by  Herbert  Brown,  1912;  and  the  appendix 
of  the  Civil  Service  Year  Book  of  Great  Britain,  published  annually 
by  Sheppard,  Cooper  &  Company,  London.  Before  the  Ridley  Com- 
mission it  was  claimed  that  pensions  are  deferred  pay,  that  the  exist- 
ing system  was  illogical,  unfair  to  the  individual  and  uneconomical  for 
the  state,  that  it  prevents  the  dismissal  of  incompetents  and  encour- 
ages men  to  stay  in  the  service  until  the  retiring  age,  etc.  This  is  tha 
view  adopted  in  the  United  States.     See  p.  256  infra. 

Since  the  Ridley  report  the  theory  that  pensions  are  deferred  pay 
has  been  generally  accepted,  and  provision  has  been  made  for  com- 
pulsory retirement  at  65,  and  for  lump  sums  to  dependents;  but  the 
method  of  payment  is  still  that  of  "  straight  pensions."  The  present 
regulations,  revised  in  1909  by  the  Courtney  Commission,  are  sub- 
stantially those  of  the  old  Act  of  1859. 

'  Act  of  1887,  50-51  Victoria  c.  67,  s.  2. 


175]  '^^^  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  175 

number  of  years  to  the  actual  service  of  professional  offi- 
cers appointed  from  public  life  at  a  mature  age  was  con- 
demned/ 

In  general,  we  find  in  the  Ridley  reports  no  undercurrent 
of  opposition  to  open  competition,  and  no  stifled  sighs  for 
the  good  old  days  of  executive  choice  and  prerogative.  On 
the  whole,  the  improvements  suggested  by  the  Ridley  Com- 
mission on  the  reorganization  scheme  of  Dr.  Playfair  were 
considerable.  The  Ridley  scheme  standardized  the  service 
and  put  an  end  to  the  confusion  caused  by  the  Order  in 
Council  of  1876.  The  old  two-division  system  was  re- 
tained, and  second  division  men  were  given  greater  oppor- 
tunities but  less  pay. 

A  Treasury  minute  of  1889  approved  most  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  second  Ridley  report,  and  Orders  in 
Council  of  February  i,  1890,  March  21,  1890,'  and  August 
15,  1890,^  adopted  the  Ridley  recommendations,  together 
with  the  old  Playfair  background.  A  new  program  of 
study  for  division  II  was  made,  retaining  the  idea  of  a 
sound  commercial  education.  Later  on,  the  Ridley  recom- 
mendation of  shorthand  as  a  subject  was  adopted,  but  time 
showed  that  this  test  of  a  commercial  education  was  not 
calculated  to  attract  as  efficient  men  as  a  purely  academic 
examination.  Schoolmasters  complained  of  the  bad  effects 
of  the  examination  in  demanding  '"a  superficial  polish 
upon  a  rather  low,  though  useful  order  of  accomplishment," 

1  This  condemnation  was  ignored. 

*  Constituting  the  second  division.  See  also  Order  in  Council  of 
Nov.  29,  1898. 

3  Constituting  the  first  division.  All  these  Orders  in  Council  have 
been  repealed,  having  been  consolidated  and  amplified  in  the  Order 
in  Council  of  Jan.  10,  1910.     See  Appendix  A. 


176  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [176 

and  finally  the  academic  examination  now  in  force  was  sub- 
stituted, the  difficulty  of  the  test  being  materially  increased.^ 
The  Treasury  Minute  of  1889  and  the  Orders  in  Council 
of  March  21  and  August  15,  1890,  substantially  govern  the 
civil  service  today.  A  compact  digest  is  therefore  given 
here.  The  Ridley  scheme  could  not  be  adopted  in  its  en- 
tirety immediately.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  Treasury  had 
to  continue  temporarily  some  of  the  old  Playfair  arrange- 
ments. The  ultimate  adoption  of  the  Ridley  scheme  had  to 
wait  until  time  had  removed  the  Playfair  generation  of 
clerks.^ 

TREASURY  MINUTE  ON  THE  SECOND  RIDLEY  REPORT 

1.  The  Playfair  scheme  has  been  fairly  tried  and  reduc- 
tions in  numbers  have  been  made,  but  My  Lords  of  the 
Treasury  agree  with  the  Ridley  Commission  that  only  time 
can  bring  about  a  complete  reduction.  Compulsory  retire- 
ment is  unfeasible  because  very  expensive  and  very  in- 
vidious. 

2.  The  Ridley  Commission  recommends  that,  in  order  to 
extend  the  Treasury  control,  a  general  Order  in  Council 
for  the  organization  of  the  civil  service  be  passed ;  that 
every  department  regulate  its  normal  establishments  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  Order  in  Council,  and  that  the  establish- 
ments thus  formulated  be  referred  to  a  committee  of  the 
principal  Treasury  officials  and  other  permanent  officers, 

'  Lowell,  Government  of  England,  vol.  i,  p.  166.  President  Lowell 
adds :  "  The  result  in  the  future  will  no  doubt  be  to  make  proficiency 
in  regular  school  work  the  real  test  for  appointment,  and  thus,  in 
accordance  with  Macaulay's  principle,  to  base  selection  upon  general 
education  instead  of  technical  knowledge."  See  also  Appendix  E, 
infra. 

'  The  suggestion  that  the  government  could  dismiss  redundant  or 
superfluous  clerks,  since  no  clerk  has  a  contract  in  the  government 
for  a  life  tenure,  was,  of  course,  not  acted  on  by  the  Treasury. 
Such  a  procedure  would  be  cruel,  and  even  if  legal,  highly  injudicious. 


J 77]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  1 77 

one  representing  the  Civil  Service  Commission  and  one  the 
great  Revenue  departments,  this  committee  to  report  to  the 
Treasury,  and  final  authority  to  rest,  as  now,  with  the  gov- 
ernment. My  Lords  cannot  agree  with  these  recommenda- 
tions. Friction  between  the  Treasury  and  other  depart- 
ments would  be  avoided  if  decisions  were  made  by  a  body 
representing  the  whole  civil  service,  but  such  a  committee 
must  consist  of  heads  of  departments  who  are  too  busy  for 
such  work.  Therefore  the  Treasury  must  go  on  with  this 
work  with  the  assistance  when  necessary  of  a  special  com- 
mittee. When  the  Treasury  and  a  department  disagree,  the 
cabinet  must  decide.  My  Lords  agree  that  there  should 
be  periodical  reviews  of  the  departments  by  a  committee 
like  that  recommended  by  the  Ridley  report,  this  point  to 
be  embodied  in  an  Order  in  Council. 

3.  Regulations  affecting  the  lower  grades  of  the  service 
are  to  be  made  uniform  by  an  Order  in  Council  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Ridley  report,  but  only  the  lower  grades. 

4.  A  seven-hour  day  is  agreed  to. 

5.  Uniform  holidays  and  sick  leave  throughout  the  ser- 
vices are  agreed  to,  but  not  the  same  for  all  classes. 

6.  Technical  and  professional  posts  not  recruited  by 
open  competition  are  to  be  scheduled. 

7.  Redundants  will  be  transferred  where  possible. 

8.  The  classification  proposed  by  the  Ridley  commission 
will  be  carried  out,  and  the  number  of  clerks  of  the  upper 
division  reduced. 

9.  Copying  work  will  be  done  mechanically  by  junior 
second  division  and  by  boy  clerks  wherever  possible.  Other 
copying  work  will  be  done  by  piece  work,  or  by  contract 
work  in  open  market.  Boy  clerks  and  boy  copyists  will  be 
amalgamated,  and  a  way  will  be  opened  to  the  second  divi- 
sion by  examination.  Women  typists  will  be  employed 
wherever  possible. 


178  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [178 

10.  Wherever  necessary,  groups  of  men  below  the  sec- 
ond division,  e.  g.,  for  statistical  abstraction,  will  be  em- 
ployed, but  a  general  class  will  not  be  created. 

11.  In  the  second  division  promotion  will  be  by  pure 
merit.  There  will  be  a  uniform  scale  of  salaries.  Duty 
pay  will  be  abolished.  There  will  be  a  year's  probation. 
The  initial  salary  will  be  £70  and  will  rise  by  £5  to  £100. 
The  Playfair  Commission  gave  triennial  increments,  which 
were  rarely  withheld,  and  annual  increments  are  not  likely 
to  be  withheld  either.  Therefore  after  £100,  a  satisfactory 
certificate  in  writng  must  be  given  by  the  head  of  the  di- 
vision before  promotion.  Then  the  clerk  rises  by  £7  los.  to 
£190,  but  instead  of  another  certificate  above  this  as  recom- 
mended by  the  Ridley  commission,  My  Lords  have  decided 
on  a  higher  class  (class  one,  division  two),  with  small  num- 
bers to  be  reached  by  promotion  for  merits — £200 — £10 — 

^350. 

12.  Second  division  clerks  may  reach  division  one  for 
exceptional  merit,  on  very  strong  recommendations  of  the 
head  of  the  department.  Eight  years'  service  in  the  second 
division  is  required  instead  of  ten  as  formerly.  [The  Rid- 
ley Commission  wanted  this  term  abolished  entirely.] 

13.  Reductions  in  minimum  salary  and  duty  pay  are  con- 
siderable, but  on  the  whole  there  is  a  considerable  increase 
in  expenditure  on  the  second  division. 

14.  First  division.  The  Playfair  scheme  of  salary  and 
duty  pay  for  the  first  division  has  only  been  adopted  in  the 
Admiralty,  Customs,  Internal  Revenue,  Irish  Secretary's 
of^ce,  Lunacy  Commission,  Patent  Ofiice,  Science  and  Arts 
departments,  and  War  Ofifice.  In  other  departments  pay 
like  that  hereinafter  proposed  by  the  Ridley  commission  is 
given.  The  Ridley  provisions  are  for  a  first  division  of 
very  limited  numbers  chosen  by  open  competition.  The 
salaries  will  be  as  follows:  ist  grade — £200-£20-£5oo ;  2nd 
grade — £6oo-£25-£8oo:  3rd  grade — £850-£5o-£  1,000. 


179]  ^^^  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  1 79 

The  probation  period  is  to  be  two  years.  There  will  be 
no  duty  pay,  and  vacancies  will  be  filled  only  where  re- 
quired. My  Lords  will  have  a  first  division  in  a  department 
only  when  they  and  the  head  of  the  department  agree  that 
it  is  necessary.  There  will  be  a  seven-hour  day.  They 
agree  about  the  other  recommendations ;  but  the  Ridley  sal- 
ary scale  is  to  represent  a  maximimi,  and  not  to  be  univer- 
sally applied,  at  least  until  the  upper  establishment  has  been 
reduced.  Meanwhile  where  the  Play  fair  scheme  of  salaries 
has  been  adopted  (offices  above),  it  will  be  maintained  and 
second  division  clerks  promoted  to  the  higher  establish- 
ments. Instead  of  duty  pay,  clerks  of  the  Play  fair  division 
will  have  a  higher  class,  £400-£20-£6oo,^  appointed  by 
merit  only.  The  age  of  first  division  competitors  is  to  be 
from  22  to  25.  There  will  be  open  competition  except  in 
the  case  of  the  House  of  Commons,  House  of  Lords,  and 
Foreign  Office  clerkships,  and  Legal  Offices.  When  a  starf 
office  falls  vacant,  no  appointment  shall  be  made  without 
the  approval  of  the  Prime  Minister  after  conference  with 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  New  staff  offices  or  in- 
creases in  pay  will  be  determined  by  My  Lords  of  the  Treas- 
ury with  the  Prime  Minister.  Changes  are  to  be  effected 
gradually.  The  immediate  object  of  an  Order  in  Council 
will  be  to  substitute  second  for  first  division  clerks  where- 
ever  practicable. 

ORDER   IN    COUNCIL   MARCH    21,    189O 

This  regulates  the  second  division  according  to  the  final 
Treasury  Minute  on  the  Ridley  report.  Special  provision 
is  made  for  those  in  office  who  must  work  seven  hours  in- 
stead of  six,  and  who  formerly  received  duty  pay.^     The 

*  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Playfair  scale  was  iioo — triennial 

increments  £37-105 — £400,  with  duty  pay  not  exceeding  £200  per  annum. 

^  The  question  of  an  "  implied  contract "  between  government  and 


l8o  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [i8o 

other  provisions  of  this  Order  in  Council  are  described  in 
the  Treasury  Minute  above.  This  revises  the  existing 
Order  in  Council  of  February  12,  1876.  which  followed 
the  Playfair  report. 

ORDER  IN   COUNCIL  AUGUST   1 5,    189O 

This  regulates  the  first  division  and  follows  in  most  re- 
spects the  Treasury  Minute  above.  Following  the  Ridley 
recommendations,  officers  may  be  forced  to  retire  with 
pensions  at  60,  and  provision  is  made  for  the  yearly 
return  before  Parliament  of  officers  whose  services  are 
prolonged  beyond  65,  with  reasons.^  The  Ridley  plan 
for  a  consultative  committee,  repudiated  in  the  Treas- 
ury Minute,  is  after  all  adopted.  A  consultative  annual 
committee  is  formed  to  advise  as  to  staff  salaries  and 
organization,  consisting  of  the  permanent  Under  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  or  the  Assistant  Under  Secretary,  the  First 

civil  service  fixing  a  six-hour  working  day,  came  up  before  the 
Ridley  Commission.  Though  it  was  decided  that  there  was  no  such 
contract,  the  difficulty  of  increasing  the  hours  and  work  of  the  civil 
service,  without  granting  extra  pay  or  creating  an  uproar  and 
political  pressure,  was  commented  on.  The  duty  pay  of  the  Playfair 
report  was  given  largely  for  an  extra  hour's  work  each  day.  Sir 
T.  H.  Farrer  of  the  Playfair  Commission  stated  before  the  Ridley 
Commission  that  he  now  regretted  the  extra  pay  for  a  seven-hour 
day.  See  The  British  State  Telegraphs,  by  Hugo  R.  Meyer  (New 
York,  1907),  p.  327;  see  also  p.  205,  infra. 

1  An  Order  in  Council  of  November  29,  1898,  provided  for  com- 
pulsory retirement  throughout  the  civil  service  at  65,  subject  to  the 
power  of  retention  for  five  years  in  very  exceptional  cases.  Three 
cases  are  mentioned  where  removal  may  be  detrimental : 

(a)  When  the  number  of  officers  aged  65  in  a  department  is  large 
and  removal  would  cause  grave  inconvenience. 

(b)  Peculiar  qualifications. 

(c)  Where  officer  has  been  entrusted  with  the  execution  of  a  par- 
tirular  duty  which  is  approaching  completion. 

In  1901-1902,  for  example,  only  fourteen  men  were  so  retained. 


l8i]  THE  RIDLEY  INVESTIGATION  l8l 

Civil  Service  Commissioner  and  two  other  principal  offi- 
cers of  public  departments,  and  a  representative  of  the  de- 
partment under  consideration  if  the  department  is  not 
represented.  If  the  department  is  represented,  then  one 
more  principal  officer  of  another  department.  Disputes  be- 
tween the  Treasury  and  heads  of  departments  may,  with 
the  consent  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  be  referred 
to  this  committee.  There  shall  be  quinquennial  inquiries 
into  pay  and  numbers. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Civil  Service  To-day 

the  present  royal  commission 

The  Question  of  Intellectual  Aristocracy 

During  the  last  two  years  a  Royal  Commission  on  Civil 
Service  has  been  again  successfully  performing  the  monu- 
mental task  of  inquiry/     Statically  and  dynamically  the 

»  "  GEORGE  R.I. 
George  the  Fifth,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  the  United  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  of  the  British  Dominions  beyond 
the  Seas  King,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  to 
Our  right  trusty  and  well-beloved  Counsellor  Antony  Patrick,  Baron 
MacDonnell,  Knight  Grand  Commander  of  Our  Most  Exalted  Order  of 
the  Star  of  India,  Knight  Commander  of  Our  Royal  Victorian  Order; 
Our  right  trusty  and  right  entirely  beloved  cousin  and  Counsellor 
Victor  Christian  William,  Duke  of  Devonshire; 

The  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God  Hubert  Murray,  Bishop  of 
Southwark ;  and 

Our  trusty  and  well-beloved : — 

Sir  Kenneth  Augustus  Muir  Mackenzie,  Knight  Grand  Cross 
of  Our  Most  Honourable  Order  of  the  Bath,  one  of  Our  Counsel 
learned  in  the  Law,  Permanent  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
Clerk  of  the  Crown  in  Chancery; 

Sir  Hknrv  Primrose,  Knight  Commander  of  Our  Most  Honour- 
able Order  of  the  Bath,  Companion  of  Our  Most  Exalted  Order 
of  the  Star  of  India; 

Sir    Donald    MacAlister,    Knight    Commander    of    Our    Most 
Honourable  Order  of  the  Bath; 
Sir  William  Guy  Granet,  Knight; 
Harold  Trevor  Baker,  Esquire; 
Alfred  Allen  Booth,  Esquire; 
Arthur  Boutwood,  Esquire; 
182  [182 


183]  THE  CIVIL  SERJICE  TO-DAY  1 83 

machinery  and  personnel  of  the  civil  service  have  been  ex- 
posed to  view.  From  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  the  office  boy, 
every  one  has  again  been  invited  to  describe  his  duties,  air 
his  grievances,  and  suggest  changes.  In  many  ways  this 
is  the  most  remarkable  document  in  the  history  of  civil  ser- 
vice in  any  country.  In  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  age, 
this  inquiry  is  conducted  in  a  manner  at  once  scientific,  open- 
minded,  and  sympathetic.  The  new  sociology,  the  new 
democracy,  and  the  advanced  ideals  of  national  education 
are  evident  in  cross-examinations  which  are  no  longer  pains- 
taking and  perfunctory.  The  commission  is,  we  may  say,  a 
conservative  one,  in  that  the  majority  belong  to  the  upper, 
highly-educated  class  of  administrators,  university  pro- 
fessors, and  members  of  Parliament — but  there  has  been  a 

John  Robert  Clynes,  Esquire; 
Samuel  John  Gurney  Hoare,  Esquire; 
Richard  Burning  Holt,  Esquire; 
Percy  Ewing  Matheson,  Esquire; 

Arthur  Everett  Shipley,  Esquire,  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society; 
Philip  Snowden,  Esquire ; 
Graham  Wallas,  Esquire; 
Elizabeth  Sanderson  Haldane,  Spinster ;  and 
Lucy  Anne  Evelyn,  wife  of  Granville  Edward  Stewart  Streat- 
f eild,  Esquire.   Greeting ! 

Whereas  We  have  deemed  it  expedient  that  a  Commission  should 
forthwith  issue 

To  inquire  into  and  report  on  the  methods  of  making  appointments 
to  and  promotions  in  the  Civil  Service,  including  the  Diplomatic  and 
Consular  Services,  and  the  legal  departments ; 

To  investigate  the  working  and  efficiency  of  the  system  of  com- 
petitive examination  for  such  appointments,  and  to  make  recommen- 
dations for  any  alterations  or  improvements  in  that  system  which  may 
appear  to  be  advisable ;  and 

To  consider  whether  the  existing  scheme  of  organization  meets  the 
requirements  of  the  Public  Service,  and  to  suggest  any  modifications 
which  may  be  needed  therein :  etc.  etc." 

(At  the  date  of  this  writing  the  commission  is  still  hearing  evidence, 
and  has  issued  no  report.     Three  volumes  of  evidence  have  appeared). 


184  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [184 

noticeable  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  whole  commission 
to  bring  the  civil  service  into  line  with  modern  needs,  and 
to  look  upon  new  experiments  without  shuddering. 

In  writing  this  chapter  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  com- 
bine quotations  from  the  most  noteworthy  evidence  sub- 
mitted to  the  Royal  Commission  with  facts  concerning  the 
civil  service  obtained  elsewhere — in  such  a  way  as  to  give 
a  clear  idea  of  the  conditions,  tendencies,  and  prospects  of 
change  in  the  civil  service. 

Before  turning  to  the  questions  of  education,  class  dis- 
tinction, and  opportunity,  which  are  the  most  important 
features  of  the  Royal  Commission's  inquiry,  we  shall  sketch 
as  briefly  as  possible  the  developments  and  changes  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  recruiting  and  organization  of  the 
civil  service  since  the  Ridley  report. 

(i)  The  first  division  examinations  have  been  standard- 
ized and  incorporated  with  the  Indian  civil  and  Eastern 
cadetship  examinations.^  The  first  division,  following  the 
recommendations  of  the  Playfair  and  Ridley  reports,  has 
been  greatly  reduced  in  numbers.  Certain  offices,  as  indi- 
cated below,  have  been  entirely  removed  from  division  I,  a 
new  intermediate  class  being  substituted.  In  some  offices 
only  division  II  men  are  employed,  and  very  frequently 
higher  staff  appointments  have  been  exclusively  reserved 
for  second  division  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  need  of 
highly  intelligent  men  to  administer  new  and  complex 
measures  has  resulted  in  the  employment  of  first  division 
men  where  they  were  previously  superfluous.^ 

'  The  candidates  highest  on  the  list  generally  prefer  the  Home  civil 
service ;  those  next  in  order  go  to  India,  and  the  lowest  successful 
candidates  accept  eastern  cadetships.  The  first  two  or  three  men  on 
the  list  usually  go  into  the  Treasury,  the  most  desirable  department. 
For  a  list  of  subjects  and  specimens  of  examinations,  see  Appendix  C. 

*  For  example,  the  Customs   Secretary's  office  now  employs  an  in- 


jgr]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  1 85 

(2)  A  new  class  has  been  created  between  the  first  and 
second  divisions.  This  intermediate  scheme  was  introduced 
into  the  civil  service  by  a  Treasury  Minute,  without  au- 
thority from  Parliament,  and  without  an  Order  in  Council. 
The  appearance  of  such  a  division  in  certain  offices  for 
which  the  first  division  represented  too  high  and  too  aca- 
demic an  education,  and  for  which  the  second  division  did 
not  represent  a  sufficiently  high  education,  was  foreshad- 
owed in  the  Ridley  report  by  Sir  S.  A.  Blackwood.  His 
suggestion  is  worth  quoting  in  full : 

What  would  be  your  suggestion  to  improve  the  state 
of  things?  It  cannot  be  a  good  thing  to  have  men  come 
in  that  way  who  are  above  their  work,  can  it  ?  —  I  ought, 
perhaps,  to  preface  what  I  say,  by  saying  that  I  have  not 
given  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  questions  of  organization. 
My  work  has  been  much  too  hard  to  allow  of  my  doing  so. 
I  have  had  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  secretary  of  the  Post 
Office,  which  is  a  constant  drive,  and  to  work  with  the  in- 
struments that  I  find  at  my  hand,  and  therefore  I  have  not 
become  a  doctrinaire  at  all  with  regard  to  questions  of  the 
organization  of  the  Civil  Service.  At  the  same  time,  of  course, 
I  have  come  in  contact  with  all  classes  of  officers,  both  in 
my  own  office  and  in  a  good  many  other  departments  of  the 
Government,  and  I  have  formed  certain  opinions  about  them, 
but  I  should  not  like  the  Commission  to  take  them  as  those 
of  a  man  who  has  devoted  a  great  deal  of  thought  or  atten- 
tion to  the  subject,  or  endeavoured  to  plan  out  schemes  under 

creasing  number  of  university  men.  The  Lloyd  George  budget  intro- 
duced complex  machinery  where  the  Balfour  budget  was  quite  simple. 
Thus,  in  the  case  of  liquor  licenses,  there  are  now  ten  or  twelve  per- 
sons employed  where  formerly  only  three  or  four  were  needed,  and 
instead  of  a  simple  uniform  tax  there  is  a  tax  which  varies,  and  there 
must  be  taken  into  consideration  the  total  proceeds  of  the  restaurant 
or  hotel,  the  relations  which  the  liquor  receipts  bear  to  total  receipts, 
and  the  total  receipts  to  the  rental,  etc. 


l86  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [i86 

which  the  Civil  Service  generally  could  be  ultimately  consti- 
tuted. But  my  own  impression,  with  that  preface  and  pro- 
viso, is  rather  that  as  these  men  are  often  too  good  and  too 
old  for  the  work,  we  should  get  a  very  fit  class  of  men  if  we 
took  a  lad  at  the  time  he  leaves  a  public  school  at  i8, — when 
he  leaves  the  sixth  form, — where  he  has  had  what  we  call  a 
liberal  education.  We  should  then  have  men  not  above  their 
work.  They  would  be  more  teachable;  they  would  not  be 
discontented  with  their  work  as  not  being  equal  to  their  abili- 
ties, and  they  would  be  capable,  therefore,  of  more  thorough 
effective  training  for  the  regular  work  of  the  office.  If  I  were 
the  head  of  a  branch  in  my  office,  and  had  to  do  the  regular 
current  work,  and  were  to  be  asked  which  I  would  prefer,  a 
double  first-class  man  at  24,  who  has  been  out  in  the  world, 
and  been  engaged  in  other  occupations,  or  a  lad  of  average 
ability  from  a  public  school  at  18,  I  should  say  certainly — 
"  Give  me  the  latter."  He  will  be  quite  as  good  for  all  my 
purposes.  I  shall  find  him  more  amenable,  more  susceptible 
of  official  training,  and  he  will  make  in  the  long  run  as  good 
a  public  servant,  if  not  as  brilliant  a  one ;  and  my  impression 
is  that  the  Civil  Service  does  not  want  brilliant  men,  except 
in  very  rare  cases. 

The  conclusion  we  are  rather  inclined  to  draw  from  what 
you  have  said  is  this,  that  you  are  perhaps  going  rather  too 
far  when  you  say  that  a  good  deal  of  the  work  that  is  done 
by  this  enormous  staff  of  upper  division  clerks  could  not  be 
done  in  the  lower  portion  of  it  by  clerks  promoted  from  the 
lower  division,  and  entering  upon  the  service  by  the  lower 
division  examinations,  especially  if  that  examination  were  to 
a  certain  extent  raised  by  languages  being  added,  or  some- 
thing of  the  sort  perhaps  ? — That  might  make  all  the  difference. 
The  lower  division  examination  is  certainly  not  what  you 
would  ordinarily  regard  as  answering  to  the  general  accepta- 
tion of  a  liberal  education.  It  is  considerably  below  that. 
Nor  is  the  lower  division  recruited  from  the  social  class, 
which,  I  think,  men  in  the  service  of  the  Government,  occupy- 
ing responsible  positions  such  as  those  in  the  upper  grades  of 


l37]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  187 

the  Civil  Service,  ought  to  have  come  from,  and  been  brought 
up  in.^ 

The  intermediate  class  was  first  introduced  in  the  Naval 
Stores  Department  of  the  Admiralty.  In  this  department 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  difficult  routine  work  of  great  de- 
tail, work  too  high  for  all  but  the  best,  older  second  division 
men  and  of  a  kind  repugnant  to  the  first  division  men. 
Though  they  could  do  it  well  enough,  the  first  division  men 
all  felt  that  their  education  was  wasted  on  such  labor,  and 
tried  to  get  themselves  transferred.  Hence  the  intermediate 
division  was  introduced  from  boys  at  the  age  of  graduation 
from  Public  Schools  (18  or  19),  and  was  very  successful. 

The  idea  of  the  Treasury  in  founding  the  intermediate 
scheme  was  that  it  should  supplant  both  first  and  second 
divisions  in  the  offices  in  which  it  was  used.'  There  are 
now  no  intermediate  division  men  employed  side  by  side 
with  second  division  clerks,  but  the  existence  of  the  inter- 
mediate class  above  them,  with  only  slightly  higher  quali- 
fications, is  one  of  the  grievances  of  second  division  clerks. 
The  new  Insurance  Commission  is  eventually  coming  under 
the  intermediate  scheme.  There  are  at  present  about  i  ,400 
members  of  the  civil  service  who  have  entered  by  the  mter- 
mediate  examinations  as  against  700  first  division  and  4.000 
second  division  men.  Transfer  of  intermediate  clerks  is 
nominally  free,  but  rarely  exercised. 

(3)  The  Hobhouse  Committee  of  1909  on  the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  Customs  and  Excise  departments  standardized 
classes,  pay  and  promotions.  Apart  from  the  central  cler- 
ical service,  recruited  by  division  I,  intermediate  and  divi- 
sion II  examinations,  there  is  now  one  entering  examination 

»  Second  Ridley  Report,  1888,  p.  273. 

»  For  a  list  of  offices  in  which  the  intermediate  scheme  is  employed, 
subjects  and  specimens  of  examinations,  see  Appendix  D. 


1 88  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [i88 

for  the  whole  general  Customs  and  Excise  department,  in- 
door and  outdoor.  Yearly  increments  to  salaries  are  pro- 
vided, with  certain  efficiency  bars  which  are  passed  only  on 
special  recommendation,  inspection  of  books,  and  written 
examination.  Beyond  the  grade  of  surveyor,  the  highest 
positions  of  inspectors  and  collectors  are  recruited  by  pro- 
motion by  merit. 

(4)  Women  and  girl  clerks,  and  female  learners  and 
sorters  are  recruited  by  open  competition,  but  are  thus  far 
employed  only  in  the  Post  Office.^  Female  typists  are  em- 
ployed in  several  departments.  On  marrying  they  must 
resign,  and  they  receive  a  bonus,  more,  it  is  said,  as  a  sign 
of  commiseration  than  from  any  desire  to  promote  matri- 
mony.^ The  further  employment  of  women  is  a  subject 
urged  by  several  witnesses  before  the  present  Royal  Com- 
mission,^ but  the  objections  to  employing  men  and  women 
side  by  side,  the  grave  doubts  expressed  by  superior  ofifi- 

^  The  Board  of  Agriculture  and  the  India  Office,  however,  employ 
some  women. 

*  Lowell,  Government  of  England,  vol.  i,  p.  172. 

'  New  York  Times,  June  2,  1913. 

"  Several  distinguished  men  and  women  have  sent  Premier  Asquith 
a  memorial  urging  an  increase  in  the  number  of  women  employes  in 
the  civil  service,  and  asking  that  women  clerks  be  made  eligible  for 
promotion  in  the  same  manner  as  men,  and  also  allowed  to  enter  the 
higher  divisions  of  the  service,  especially  those  departments  which  are 
concerned  with  women  and  children,  with  many  conditions  of  home 
life,  and  with  the  domestic  management  of  institutions. 

The  memorial  also  urges  that  women  should  be  eligible  for  scientific 
and  other  specialist  appointments,  especially  in  State  museums,  and, 
finally,  that  a  woman  should  be  appointed  a  member  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commission." 

Women  inspectors  of  factories,  etc.  under  the  Home  Office  have 
given  great  satisfaction,  but  they  have  been  paid  much  less  than  men 
inspectors  doing  the  same  work.  The  usual  arguments — e.  g.  absence 
of  family  and  dependents,  and  market  price  of  female  labor — are  used 
against  equal  pay,  but  in  this  context  they  are  not  very  convincing. 


igg]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  189 

cers  as  to  the  ability  of  women  to  compete  with  men  in 
efficiency  in  the  long  run,  and  as  to  their  physical  capacity, 
and  the  probability  that  they  will  leave  the  service  by  early 
marriage,  all  indicate  that  the  employment  of  women  on  a 
large  scale  above  the  typist  class  is  not  contemplated.  The 
examinations  open  to  women  have  been  largely  attended — 
in  fact,  the  proportion  of  candidates  to  vacancies  is  often 
as  high  as  twenty  to  one. 

(5)  The  "blind  alley  "  employment  of  boy  clerks,  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Ridley  report,  by  which  boys  of  19  are  turned 
out  of  the  civil  service  into  the  world  without  a  calling,  has 
recently  become  an  acute  question.  To  its  solution  the  pres- 
ent Royal  Commission  has  devoted  much  time  and  question- 
ing, and  as  a  probable  result  only  as  many  boys  will  be  em- 
ployed in  future  as  can  be  absorbed  into  the  higher  classes. 
A  standing  committee  on  boy  labor  in  the  Post  Office  has 
evolved  a  scheme  of  educating  boy  messengers  who  enter 
the  Post  Office  at  14.  For  two  years  they  will  be  required 
to  attend  classes  under  the  local  educational  authorities.  At 
the  end  of  this  period  they  will  be  examined  in  the  subjects 
taught,  viz.,  handwriting,  spelling,  English,  arithmetic, 
geography  and  history.  Those  who  pass  highest  will  be 
allowed  to  compete  amongst  themselves  for  positions  as 
sorters  and  telegraph  learners,  the  latter  positions  being 
hereafter  removed  from  open  competition  and  reserved  for 
boy  messengers.  Those  who  are  not  successful  at  this  sec- 
ond examination  will  continue  as  messengers  until  they  are 
19,  and  will  then  be  appointed  postmen  without  further 
tests.  As  yet  the  compulsory  classes  are  available  only  in 
large  towns ;  but  the  system  will  eventually  extend  through- 
out the  country. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Royal  Commission  will  suggest 
further  educational  plans  of  this  kind  in  other  departments, 
so  that  as  few  boys  as  possible  will  be  dismissed  from  the 


igo  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [igo 

service,  and  as  many  as  possible  educated  up  to  further  and 
higher  usefulness. 

(6)  Unfortunately,  the  employment  of  a  temporary 
writer  class,  supposedly  discontinued  by  a  Treasury  Minute 
in  1886,  and  condemned  by  both  the  Play  fair  and  the  Rid- 
ley reports,  has  again  been  resorted  to.  Probably  there 
always  will  be  fluctuating  work  of  this  kind.  Perhaps  the 
present  Royal  Commission  may  discover  some  satisfactory 
scheme  for  a  permanent,  unattached  writer  class.  At  pres- 
ent the  tendency  is  to  do  away  with  this  class  altogether. 

(7)  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  bear  in  mind  that, 
although  unlimited  competition  has  increased  with  the 
growth  of  the  civil  service  since  the  Ridley  report,  it  is 
still  used  for  ojily  about  one-third  of  the  situations  in  the 
English  civil  service}  About  2,500  positions  are  annually 
recruited  by  open  competition.  In  general,  we  may  say 
that  all  division  I  clerkships,  staff  clerkships,  second  divi- 
sion clerkships,  intermediate  clerkships,  and  assistant  and 
boy  clerkships — that  is,  all  the  general  clerical  staff — are 
recruited  by  open  competition.  Limited  competition  has 
been  extended  in  keeping  with  early  tendencies,  to  cover  a 
great  many  technical,  professional  positions,  such  as  posi- 
tions in  the  British  Museum,  engineers,  and  also  a  very  mis- 
cellaneous lot  of  offices  such  as  clerks  of  Parliament,  the 
Royal  Irish  constabulary,  assistants  to  factory  inspectors, 
clerks  in  the  Foreign  Office  and  consuls,  junior  inspectors 
of  mines  and  quarries,  naval  cadets  and  clerks,  police 
court  clerks.  Post  Office  supplementary  clerks,  sorters,  etc. 
In  some  cases  (as  in  those  of  junior  inspectors  of  mines) 
the  competition  is  really  open,  all  applications  being  con- 
sidered on  their  merits,  and  in  others  {e.  g.,  Metropolitan 
Police  Court  clerks  and  Post  Office  supplementary  clerks 

*  Cf.  Appendix  B. 


igi]  THE  CIl'IL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  igi 

and  sorters)  the  competition  is  amongst  clerks  already  in 
the  service  who  are  nominated  by  their  superiors.  It  is, 
however,  obvious  that  some  of  these  positions  might  with 
greater  fairness  and  no  danger  be  recruited  by  open  com- 
petition. Nomination  and  limited  competition  for  clerk- 
ships in  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  House  of  Lords,  and 
House  of  Commons,  will  probably  not  survive  the  report  of 
the  Royal  Commission.  The  remainder  of  the  positions  in 
the  English  civil  service  are  still  filled  by  simple  nomina- 
tion, either  with  or  without  examination.  This  class  is,  of 
course,  largely  composed  of  dockyard  workers,  messengers, 
prison  employees,  and  outdoor  workers  of  many  kinds,  for 
whom  competition  has  been  thought  undesirable  or  impos- 
sible. The  Royal  Commission  has  certainly  brought  out 
that  there  is  no  very  sound  reason  why  female  typists  and 
Post  Office  employees  such  as  telegraphers,  postmen,  and 
numerous  other  clerks  and  technical  officers,  need  be  re- 
cruited in  this  way. 

(8)  With  the  introduction  of  new  paternalistic  measures 
of  government,  entirely  new  methods  of  initial  appointment 
have  been  found  desirable,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  em- 
ploying experts  to  get  things  under  way.  In  the  case  of  the 
labor  exchanges  a  committee  was  appointed  to  sift  appli- 
cations. 13,000  application  blanks  were  received;  800  were 
selected,  and  200  candidates  were  interviewed.  As  a  result, 
100  were  finally  recommended,  the  committee  being  unani- 
mous as  to  all  but  one  man.^  This  is,  however,  a  method 
open  to  grave  suspicion  of  patronage.  In  the  case  of  the 
National  Health  Insurance  Commission  a  somewhat  similar 
plan  was  adopted,  there  being,  however,  a  qualifying  exam- 
ination before  appointment.  Further  appointments  under 
the  Insurance  Commission  are  to  be  made  by  promotion 

^  Women  candidates  were  similarly  interviewed. 


ig2  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [192 

and  transfer  of  civil  servants  or  through  the  intermediate 
scheme  of  examination.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  this 
method  of  appointment  by  consultation  has  been  very  favor- 
ably commented  on  by  many  witnesses  before  the  Royal 
Commission,  the  consensus  of  opinion  being  that  this  is  a 
desirable  way  of  recruiting  managing  officials  of  new  de- 
partments in  an  emergency.^ 

(9)  It  is  difficult  to  generalize  about  methods  of  promo- 
tion in  the  civil  service.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  successive 
commissions.  Orders  in  Council,  and  departmental  regula- 
tions insist  upon  promotion  by  merit  alone,  seniority  has, 
and  always  will  have,  great  weight.  As  between  two  men 
equal  in  ability,  the  senior  of  course  goes  ahead ;  as  between 
a  junior  clerk  and  a  senior  a  little  inferior  to  him,  the 
senior  is  probably  preferred.  The  practice  of  jumping  a 
man  over  the  heads  of  a  number  of  seniors  is,  of  course, 
exceedingly  unpopular  in  the  service  itself.  Herein  the 
government  is  always  handicapped  as  against  a  private  em- 
ployer.    This  question  of  seniority  and  merit  is  of  little  im- 

'  The  Civil  Service  Commission  in  its  report  of  191 1  says:  "All  these 
posts  are  at  present  temporary  and  unpensionable,  and  are  included 
in  Schedule  B  of  the  Order  in  Council  of  loth  January,  1910.  They 
are  not,  therefore,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  our  Board;  but  should 
any  of  the  candidates  recommended  by  either  of  the  Committees  come 
up  hereafter  before  us  for  ceriificates  of  qualification  for  the  posts 
for  which  they  were  recommended,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty,  after 
learning  that  they  have  discharged  their  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  in  certifying  from  personal  knowledge  that  they 
are  qualified  in  point  of  experience  and  ability  for  these  posts.  This 
procedure  constitutes  a  new  precedent;  and  in  view  of  the  number 
of  posts  that  are  being  created,  for  which  special  experience  and 
capacity  in  dealing  with  practical  affairs  are  of  more  importance  than 
attainments  such  as  can  be  tested  by  open  or  limited  competition,  we 
regard  with  satisfaction  the  apparent  success  of  this  novel  method  of 
selection.  Tt  is,  in  fact,  a  new  kind  of  open  competition,  in  which 
tests  are  applied  such  as  men  of  business  use  in  the  choice  of  their 
employees." 


^93]  •  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  I93 

portance  where  there  are  written  examinations  for  promo- 
tion; but  except  in  the  Revenue  departments  (and,  of 
course,  promotions  from  boy  clerks  to  assistants,  and  as- 
sistants to  the  second  division),  examinations  for  promo- 
tion in  the  civil  service  are  rare,  and  within  the  clerical 
establishments  almost  unheard-of.  Efficiency  bars  and  cer- 
tificates from  superiors  seem  to  be  effective  in  preventing 
shirking,  in  stimulating  effort,  and  in  insuring  the  requisite 
ability  for  promotions. 

In  the  United  States  there  is  a  marked  tendency  to  trust 
to  written  promotion  examinations  and  to  complex  effi- 
ciency records,  especially  in  municipal  governments.  The 
Chicago  Civil  Service  Commission,  for  example,  has  drawn 
up  elaborate  step  pyramids  in  each  department,  showing 
how,  by  promotion  examinations  and  efficiency  records, 
the  lowest  clerk  may  rise  from  stage  to  stage  to  the  highest 
post  at  the  apex  of  the  official  Sakkara.  This  system  has 
been  successful  in  Chicago,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  what 
virtue  there  can  be  in  successive  examinations  once  a  man's 
mental  calibre,  ability  in  the  discharge  of  present  duties, 
and  general  qualifications  for  higher  place,  are  patent.  In 
all  cases  there  are  "  personal  marks "  awarded  on  past 
record,  etc.,  and  the  examination  itself  seems  to  be  merely 
a  way  of  avoiding  any  suspicion  of  partiality  in  the  final 
choice.  Something  like  elaborate  efficiency  records  were 
proposed  in  the  1853  report,  but  were  never  adopted  in 
England.  There  seems  to  be  more  need  of  taking  precau- 
tions against  laziness  and  inefficiency  in  the  United  States, 
especially  in  city  governments.  The  great  danger  is  that 
such  records  may  result  in  a  system  of  espionage  at  once 
meticulous  and  tyrannical. 

(10)  It  may  be  well  to  indicate  briefly  the  existing  excep- 
tional methods  of  entering  the  civil  service  without  exami- 
nation. 


194  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [jq^ 

I.  Under  the  Superannuation  Act  of  1859,  sec.  4, 
the  Treasury  may,  by  order  or  warrant,  declare  that 
for  certain  offices  professional  or  other  peculiar  quali- 
fications not  ordinarily  to  be  acquired  in  the  civil  ser- 
vice are  required,  and  may  exempt  such  offices  from 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  entirely. 

II.  Clause  7  of  the  Order  in  Council  of  1910  (re- 
enacting  Clause  7  of  the  Order  in  Council  of  1870^) 
provides  that  if  the  head  of  a  department  and  the 
Treasury  propose  to  appoint  a  person  of  peculiar  or 
professional  ability  acquired  in  other  pursuits,  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  may,  if  they  think  fit,  dis- 
pense with  examination,  age  limits,  etc. 

III.  All  positions  to  which  the  holder  is  directly  ap- 
pointed by  the  crown. ^ 

*  Cf.  Appendix  A. 

*  This  list  is  as  interesting  as  it  is  miscellaneous  and  anomolous. 

"Appointments  held  direct  from  the  Crown. 
The  First  Lord  submits  names  for  His  Majesty's  approval,  in  respect 
of  the  following  appointments    (Ministerial  and   Civil   Service),  held 
direct  from  the  Crown  and  paid  out  of  public  moneys : 
(a)  Appointments  by  Letters  Patent: — 
Commissioners  of  the  Treasury. 
Commissioners  of  Admiralty. 
Commissioners  of  Inland  Revenue. 
Commissioners  of  Customs. 
Comptroller  and  Auditor-General. 
Assistant  Comptroller  and  Auditor-General. 
Clerk  of  the  Parliaments. 
Clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Registrar-General, 
(fc)  Appointments  by  Warrants  under  the  Royal  Sign  Manual: — 
Paymaster-General. 

Commissioners  of  Public  Works,  Ireland. 
Commissioners  of  Woods  and  Forests. 
Charity  Commissioners. 
Deputy  Clerk  Register. 
Clerk  Assistant  and  Second  Clerk  Assistant  of  the  House 

of  Commons. 
Secretary  to  the  Charity  Commissioners. 


ig^]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  195 

IV.  Cases  in  which  the  necessity  of  obtaining  a  civil 

{c)  Appointments  by  Order  in  Council: — 

Civil  Service  Commissioners. 
The  First  Lord  also  appoints  on  behalf  of  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Treasury   (in   some  cases  specifically  in   conjunction  with  the 
Chancellor   of   the   Exchequer)    to   the    following   appointments,   com- 
pleted by  Treasury  Warrant  or  Minute.     In  some  cases  the  approval 
of  the  King  is  required  to  be  obtained: 
Permanent  Secretary  to  the  Treasury. 
Assistant  Secretary  to  the  Treasury. 
Auditor  of  the  Civil  List. 

Solicitor  and  Assistant  Solicitor  to  the  Treasury. 
Treasury  Valuer. 

Solicitors  to  Inland  Revenue  and  Customs. 
Special  Commissioners  of  Income  Tax. 
Secretary  and  Assistant  Secretary  to  Board  of  Customs. 
Assistant  Paymaster-General. 

Assistant  Paymaster-General   for  Supreme  Court. 
Treasury  Remembrancers. 
King's  and  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancers. 
Crown  Receiver  for  Scotland. 
Controller  of  Stationery  Office. 
Secretary  to  Office  of  Works. 
Director  of  Kew  Gardens. 
Inspector  of  Ancient  Monuments. 
Deputy  Master  of  Mint. 
Directors  of  Suez  Canal. 
Astronomer  Royal. 
Law  Agents,  Scotland. 
Registrar  of  Friendly  Societies. 
Secretary  to  Civil  Service  Commission. 
Superintendent  of  Statistics   (Registrar-General's  Office). 
Parliamentary  Counsel. 

Keepers  of  National  Gallery,  Tate  Gallery,  and  Wallace  Collection. 
Government  Chemist. 
Insurance  Commissioners. 

The  First  Lord  also  submits  to  the  King  the  names  for  appoint- 
ment as  Ambassadors  after  consultation  with  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  Foreign  Affairs. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  (in  his  capacity  as  National  Debt 
Commissioner)   appoints  the  Controller  of  the  National  Debt  Office. 

Both  First  Lord  and  Chancellor  appoint  to  vacancies  in  their  staff 
of  Office-keepers  or  Messengers  which  occur  at  their  respective  resi- 
dences during  their  term  of  office." 
Royal  Commission,  1912,  vol.  i,  Appendix  IV  (b). 


196  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [iq6 

service  certificate  is  specifically  excluded  by  statute,  or 
by  enrollment  in  Schedule  B  of  the  Order  in  Council 
of  1870. 

It  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of  this  essay  to  discuss 
at  length  the  back  door  methods  of  entering  the  civil  ser- 
vice. Such  methods  are  necessary,  and  when  adopted  in 
good  faith  and  with  sufficient  publicity  are  highly  desir- 
able. The  evidence  before  the  present  Royal  Commission 
has,  however,  made  it  palpable  that  one  back  door  into  the 
civil  service  is  enough.  A  new  Order  in  Council  or  statute 
will  probably  be  drawn  up  combining  the  advantages  of 
Section  4  of  the  Superannuation  Act  and  Clause  7  and 
Schedule  B  of  the  Order  in  Council  of  1910.  Under  the 
Superannuation  Act  there  is  not  enough  publicity,  although 
announcement  is  made  in  Parliament,  and  there  is  no  provi- 
sion for  consultation  with  the  Civil  Service  Commission.^ 

The  desirability  of  consulting  with  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  when  an  exceptional  appointment  from  out- 
side is  to  be  made  to  an  important  position,  was  recently 
conspicuously  illustrated  in  the  appointment  of  Sir  Matthew 
Nathan  as  Secretary  to  the  General  Post  Office.^  There 
was  difficulty  in  finding  anyone  to  fill  the  secretaryship. 
The  Postmaster  General  felt  that  he  had  no  one  of  requi- 
site qualifications  in  the  department  to  promote.  Sir 
Matthew  was  a  Colonel  of  Engineers  and  had  been  a 
successful  colonial  administrator  as  Governor  of  the  Gold 
Coast  and  of  the  Straits  Settlements.    The  Postmaster  Gen- 

*  There  are  a  number  of  other  anomalies  to  be  abolished  by  the 
coming  Order  in  Council,  e.  g.,  the  Post  Office  has  never  been  enrolled 
under  Schedule  A  (providing  for  open  competition),  and  yet  open 
examinations  are  held  regularly  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission  for 
the  Post  Office  as  under  Schedule  A. 

2  Sir  Matthew  has  since  been  appointed,  by  the  Crown.  Chairman  of 
the  Board  of  Inland  Revenue. 


IC)7]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  igj 

eral  wanted  to  appoint  him  to  the  vacancy,  but  under  the 
Order  in  Council  of  19 lo  he  had  to  get  the  consent  of  the 
Civil  Service  Commission.  The  Civil  Service  Commission 
inquired  into  the  record  and  fitness  of  Sir  Matthew  Nathan, 
and  certified  that  his  qualifications  were  such  that  the  or- 
dinary requirements  of  examination  and  promotion  might 
be  waived.  If  this  method  is  universally  adopted,  the  pub- 
lic will  never  be  suspicious  of  exceptional  appointments  to 
high  positions  in  the  civil  service  from  public  life. 

(11)  In  recent  years  the  question  of  "  influence  "  and 
patronage  in  appointments  and  promotions  to  high  positions 
has  received  much  public  condemnation.  Investigation  dis- 
closes how  little  undue  influence  is  exercised,  and  how  much 
public  opinion  has  been  educated  up  to  an  almost  rigid  in- 
sistence upon  the  letter  of  the  once  abominated  civil  ser- 
vice law. 

So  far  as  the  writer  can  judge,  the  ''  jobs  "  of  this  kind 
perpetrated  by  ministers  and  the  Treasury  in  the  last  decade 
have  been  very  few.  Very  rarely  a  man  is  appointed  from 
outside  on  account  of  family  or  political  connections  to  a 
post  for  which  he  is  not  particularly  fitted ;  again,  charges 
are  made  about  favoritism  in  appointments  to  new  depart- 
ments, but  apparently  without  much  ground.  There  is, 
however,  a  kind  of  promotion,  called  the  "  private  secretary 
scandal,"  which  is  worth  investigating.  It  seems  that  a 
number  of  first  division  clerks,  who  have  served  as  private 
secretaries  to  political  heads  of  offices,  have  so  impressed 
their  chiefs  that  these  have  found  means  to  promote  them 
to  really  high  and  responsible  positions  in  their  own  or  in 
other  departments. 

On  investigation  it  appears  that  in  some  cases  these  pro- 
motions are  really  "  jobs  " ;  in  others,  that  exceptional  men 
have  demonstrated  their  right  to  rise  to  high  positions.  As 
an  example  of  a  palpable  job,  we  have  the  case  of  Mr.  G.  E. 


igg  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [198 

P.  Murray,  a  young  man  of  thirty-one,  who  in  19 12  was 
made  a  Commissioner  of  Excise  at  £1,200  a  year.  Mr. 
Murray's  father  was  the  highest  official  in  the  whole  civil 
service,  the  Permanent  Secretary  to  the  Treasury'.  The 
younger  Murray  entered  the  civil  service  in  1903,  through 
a  back  door,  as  a  "  temporary  examhier  "  in  the  Education 
Office.  After  eight  years'  temporary,  if  somewhat  respon- 
sible, service,  Murray  was  suddenly  appointed  to  the  £1,200 
commissionship.^ 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  remember  that  a  private 
secretaryship  is  an  admirable  agency  for  bringing  out  the 
exceptional  qualifications  and  abilities  in  a  young  man 
which  mark  him  for  high  place.  The  secretary  to  the  politi- 
cal head  of  an  office  comes  into  contact  with  great  men  and 
measures ;  he  prepares  papers  of  great  importance  and  is 
alert  to  supplement  and  expand  the  work  of  his  chief.  The 
private  secretaries  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George  have  had  to  assist 
a  man  who  is  brilliant  in  evolving  schemes,  in  popularizing 
them,  and  in  defending  them  in  Parliament,  but  in  matters 
of  formulation  and  detail  at  once  impatient  and  insatiable. 
The  private  secretary  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George  must  have,  not 
only  wide  knowledge,  adaptability,  patience,  tact,  and  in- 
sight into  character,  but  also  the  ability  to  work  indefinitely 
without  regard  to  official  hours  or  personal  convenience,  and 
always  with  a  fresh  and  curious  mind.  Such  a  man  de- 
velops wonderfully  in  a  short  time,  and  the  success  of  great 
national  measures,  such  as  the  Insurance  Act  and  the  Budget 
of  1909,  are  not  a  little  owing  to  hhn.  And  when  the  great 
measures  are  once  in  force  and  a  high  position  elsewhere 
becomes  vacant,  is  it  surprising  and  reprehensible  if  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  points  to  his  tried  private  sec- 

*  Other  "cases"  are  quo'ed  in  the  London  Magasine  of  October, 
1912,  and  in  The  Civilian,  November  23,  1912.  These  "  cases  "  must  be 
taken  with  several  grains  of  salt. 


igg-^  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  199 

retary  as  just  the  man  for  the  vacant  place?  It  is  indeed  a 
bold  outsider  who  sees  graft  and  patronage  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  secretary  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George  as  a  member  of 
the  Council  of  India.  Usually  it  is  the  jump  from  a  modest 
salary  to  £5,cx)0  a  year  which  takes  away  the  breath  of  the 
man  in  the  street.^ 

'  "  The  following  is  a  list  of  those  gentlemen  appointed  to  lucrative 
positions  in  the  Civil  Service  after  serving  in  the  capacity  of  Private 
Secretary  to  Members  of  the  Government.  The  list  does  not  pretend 
to  be  complete,  and  it,  of  course,  excludes  Private  Secretaries  of 
Ministers,  who  have  received  substantial  Departmental  promotion, 
according  to  custom : 

Mr.  Mark  Sturgis,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Asquith,  appointed  to 
be  Special  Commissioner  of  Income  Tax. 

Mr.  F.  N.  Rogers,  ex-Liberal  Parliamentary  candidate  and  ex- 
Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  McKenna,  appointed  to  be  Small  Holdings 
Commissioner. 

Mr.  Max  S.  Green,  Private  Secretary  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  appointed 
to  be  Chairman  of  Irish  Prisons  Board. 

Mr.  Lionel  Earle,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Lewis  Harcourt.  ap- 
pointed to  be  Secretary  to  Office  of  Works. 

Mr.  L.  Neish,  Private  Secretary  to  Lord  Loreburn,  appointed  to  be 
Registrar  of  the  Privy  Council. 

Mr.  E.  P.  Murray,  Private  Secretary  to  Lord  Morley,  appointed  to 
be  Commissioner  of  Customs. 

Mr.  E.  G.  Soames,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Churchill,  appointed  to 
be  National  Debt  Commissioner. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Davies,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  James  Bryce,  appointed 
to  be  Assistant  Secretary,  Education  Office. 

Mr.  Vaughan  Nash,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Asquith,  appointed  to 
be  Vice-Chairman  of  Development  Commission. 

Mr.   H.  J.   Houlihan,   Private   Secretary  to   Lord   Portsmouth    (ex- 
Minister),  appointed  to  be  Secretary  to  Irish  Insurance  Commissioners. 
Mr.  G.  E.  Baker,  Private  Secretary  to  late  Parliamentary  Secretary 
of  Board  of  Trade,  appointed  to  be  Principal  Clerk,  Board  of  Trade. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Maurice,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Runciman,  appointed  to 
be  Assistant  Secretary,  Fisheries  Department,  Board  of  Agriculture. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Clark,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  appointed 
to  be  Member  of  Viceroy  of  India's  Council. 

Mr.  J.  Rowland,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  appointed 
to  be  Welsh  Insurance  Commissioner. 

Mr.  E.  A.  Gowers,  Private  Secretary  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  appointed 
to  be  Chief  of  Department  of  Insurance  Inspectors."— T/t^  Civilian. 


200  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [200 

(12)  On  January  i,  1912,  the  English  government  took 
over  the  whole  telephone  business  of  the  country.  Without 
any  hitch  and  without  public  demonstration,  the  Postmaster 
General  assumed  the  administration  of  this  huge  depart- 
ment: 

The  change  means  that  capital  amounting  to  over  £16,000,- 
000,  and  18,000  employees  are  transferred  to  the  state — that, 
in  short,  the  nationalization  of  the  telephone  service  is  an  ac- 
complished fact.  Of  these  additional  civil  servants  at  least 
12,000  will  have  the  right  to  pensions  under  the  post-office. 
The  staff  has  not  been  transferred  in  its  entirety.  Certain 
members,  such  as  the  solicitor,  the  secretary,  the  general  super- 
intendent, the  chief  engineer,  the  assistant  engineer,  and  six 
provincial  superintendents,  will  not  come  under  the  Govern- 
ment. The  highly-paid  officials  will  receive  compensation 
from  the  company's  fund  established  for  that  purpose. 

An  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  service  taken  over  by  the  state 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following  statistics :  There  are  over 
400,000  subscribers,  1,571  exchanges,  500,000  exchange  sta- 
tions, and  36,000  private  stations.  Before  the  transfer  the 
post-office  controlled  about  500,000  miles  of  telephone  wire 
with  120,000  subscribers.  By  the  change  it  will  control  1,253,- 
890  miles.  The  additional  mileage  brings  the  capital  value  of 
the  system  owned  and  worked  by  the  state  up  to  £25,000,000. 
The  change,  so  smoothly  accomplished,  is  the  result  of  a  de- 
cision in  Parliament  in  1905.  The  old  company  worked  under 
a  license  from  the  Government  granted  over  thirty  years  ago. 
It  was  resolved  that  the  license  should  not  be  renewed,  and 
that  on  ij:s  expiration  the  telephone  service  should  be  con- 
ducted by  the  state.^ 

It  is  impossible  to  look  into  the  future,  with  its  prospect 
of  immensely  increased  numbers  of  civil  servants,  without 

^  Literary  Digest,  Jan.  27,  1912,  p.  154. 


2oi]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  20I 

feeling  that  the  question  of  the  relation  of  these  employees 
to  the  government  is  one  of  the  first  national  importance. 

With  the  expansion  of  departments  like  the  Post  Office, 
and  the  further  development  of  state  and  municipal  owner- 
ship, there  arises  the  great  question  of  the  rights  and  powers 
of  civil  servants  as  against  the  state.  When  the  telephone 
employees  enter  the  civil  service,  is  their  relation  to  the 
state  exactly  the  same  as  was  their  relation  to  their  old 
private  employers?  Or,  in  other  words,  is  the  state  under 
the  same  dangers  of  trades  unionism,  hostile  organization, 
and  strikes  as  the  private  employer?  The  conservative  and 
the  state-socialist  say  no.  The  socialist  and  syndicalist  say 
yes. 

it  IS  not  possible  here  to  discuss  the  many  differences 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  public  welfare  between  the 
status  of  civil  servants  and  the  status  of  workmen  in  private 
employ,  when  there  is  a  question  of  enforcing  demands  by 
trades-union  methods  and  by  strikes.  The  general  tendency 
is  certainly  ^  to  regard  government  employees  as  a  pecu- 
liar class,  and  to  regard  political  agitation  as  dangerous 
and  unwarranted,  and  strikes  against  the  government  as 
being  like  strikes  of  the  army  or  navy,  treason  and  mutiny. 
The  Outlook,  in  an  editorial  on  the  strike  of  the  municipal 
street  cleaners  of  New  York  said : 

"  Men  who  are  employed  by  the  public  cannot  strike. 
They  can,  and  sometimes  do,  mutiny.  Then  they  should  be 
treated  not  as  strikers,  but  as  mutineers." 

The  strike  of  the  French  telegraph  and  postal  employees 
in  1909,  and  the  resulting  conversion  of  the  erstwhile  advo- 
cate of  the  general  strike,  M.  Briand,  to  a  saner  policy  of 
repression,  is  still  fresh  in  our  minds.  The  reply  of  the 
French  postmen's  organization  to   repressive  measures   is 

^  Walling,  Socialism  As  It  Is  (New  York,  1912),  p.  392. 


202  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [202 

■'  that  the  administration  of  the  Post  Office  is  an  industrial 
and  commercial  administration ;  that  it  is  a  vast  enterprise 
of  general  utility;  that  the  notion  of  loyalty  or  treason  is 
entirely  misplaced  in  this  field."  ^ 

No  doubt  the  postal  and  telegraph  employees  in  France 
have  some  just  grievances.  The  writer  is  not  sufficiently 
ccquainted  with  their  needs  to  know  how  pressing  these  are. 
But  certainly  as  regards  the  English  postal  employees,  the 
writer  believes — in  spite  of  Mr.  Walling  and  his  socialistic 
brethren — that  the  civil  servant  may  safely  depend  upon  the 
public  and  parliamentary  recognition  of  the  justice  of  his 
cause,  upon  the  fairness  of  the  Treasury  or  a  minister 
(who  have  none  of  the  selfiish  interest  of  private  employ- 
ers), and  upon  royal  commissions  which  act  as  a  kind  of 
arbitration  board,  to  get  real  grievances  redressed  and  rea- 
sonable demands  granted.  However,  developments  of 
trades  unionism  in  the  English  civil  service  are  likely  to 
prove  very  interesting  in  the  next  decade. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  at  one  time  a  large  group  of  civil 
servants  were  disfranchised  in  order  to  keep  the  civil  ser- 
vice out  of  politics.  This  radical  act  was  repealed  after 
serving  a  useful  purpose,  when  the  examination  system  had 
replaced  patronage.  It  seems  very  improbable  that  disfran- 
chisement will  be  attempted  again.  "  Democracy  gives 
back  none  of  its  victories."  It  is,  however,  interesting  to 
note  that  the  disfranchised  civil  servants  resident  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  seem  to  be  satisfied  with  their  vote- 
less   interest    in    the    government    which    they    serve.      It 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  395.  Mr.  Walling  believes  that  "  the  gulf  between  those 
who  consider  the  collective  refusal  of  the  organizations  of  govern- 
ment employees  to  work  under  conditions  they  do  not  accept,  as 
being  'treason'  and  'mutiny,'  and  those  who  feel  that  such  an  organi- 
zation is  the  very  basis  of  industrial  democracy  of  the  future  and  the 
sole  possible  guarantee  of  liberty,  is  surely  unbridgeable." 


203]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  203 

will  be  remembered  also,  that  an  Act  of  Anne  had 
threatened  with  fine  and  dismissal  any  postal  servant  who 
should  persuade  a  voter  to  vote  for  or  against  any  candi- 
date. This  act  is  unrepealed,  but  practically  useless.  Re- 
cently civil  servants  have  developed  organizations  to  further 
their  welfare,  which,  beginning  like  the  trades  unions  with 
philanthropic  and  benefit  work,  have  gradually  developed 
into  civil  service  unions  with  programs  of  pay,  promo- 
tion and  prospects  which  they  seek  to  enforce  by  political 
pressure,  publicity  and  agitation.^ 

The  English  Post  Office  has  been  the  home  of  many  ser- 
ious agitations,  and  now  that  it  includes  the  huge  telegraph 
and  telephone  services  of  the  kingdom,  the  danger  of  politi- 
cal pressure  and  strikes  is  one  which  calls  for  serious  con- 
sideration. 

A  few  quotations  will  illustrate  this  civil  unionism.  At 
the  time  of  the  Ridley  inquiry  in  1888,  Sir  R.  E.  Welby  of- 
fered testimony  which  briefly  and  clearly  states  the  prob- 
lem: 

You  say  you  have  not  taken  any  steps  to  put  down  what  is 
virtually  a  trades  union  among  the  Lower  Division  clerks. 
Do  you  think  it  advisable  that  no  step  of  that  sort  should  be 
taken?— I  think  that  a  very  difficult  question  to  answer.  I  do 
not  like  the  combination  of  civil  servants  to  obtain  by  parlia- 
mentary action  increase  of  pay,  but  I  dislike,  if  it  can  possibly 
be  avoided,  any  measure  of  authority  which  appears  to  pre- 
clude people  from  making  known  their  grievances. 

In  the  interests  of  the  public  service,  do  not  you  think  it 
would  be  in  a  certain  degree  inadvisable  to  prevent  these  men 
expressing  what  they  believe  to  be  their  grievances  and  simply 
let  the  discontent  foment  in  the  office?— I  should  be  anxious 
that  any  body  of  men,  who  really  think  that  they  have  griev- 

1  Cf.  Lowell,  Government  of  England,  vol.  i,  pp.  i47-i53- 


204  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [204 

ances,  should  have  assurance  that  those  grievances  should  be 
considered.  I  am  anxious  to  go  as  far  as  that,  but  I  think  that 
each  case  must  be  judged  by  itself.  I  should  be  the  last  person 
to  say  that  any  amount  of  combination  or  any  use  of  parlia- 
mentary influence  is  to  be  permitted.  There  must  come  a 
point  at  which  it  v^ould  be  necessary  to  check  it ;  but  I  do  not 
like  expressing  a  general  opinion  beforehand,  which  might  be 
interpreted  as  unfavourable  to  the  reasonable  making  known 
of  grievances. 

Are  you  aware  that  repressive  action  has  been  taken  in  the 
Post  Office  amongst  the  Postmen? — The  circumstances  are 
not  known  to  me.  .  .  . 

I  should  like  to  ask  you  whether  it  is  not  known  to  you  that 
of  course  electioneering  action  is  forbidden  to  civil  servants 
at  the  present  time,  that  is  to  say,  they  are  not  allowed  to  ap- 
pear on  political  platforms. — I  am  not  aware  of  any  general 
minute  forbidding  civil  servants  interfering  in  elections,  or 
rather  I  should  say  not  interfering  but  taking  part  in  elections. 

(Mr.  Freeman  Mitford.)  There  is  an  unwritten  law,  is  not 
there ;  it  always  was  an  understood  thing  that  civil  servants 
did  not  take  part  ? — It  is  relaxed  very  much.  You  must  recol- 
lect that  the  whole  tendency  has  been  to  remove  disabilities.^ 

As  a  result  of  constant  agitations,  there  were  at  least  three 
committees  on  Post  Office  salaries  in  a  single  decade — in 
1897.  in  1903,  and  in  1906.  After  the  Tweedmouth  re- 
port in  1898  on  the  Post  Office  establishments,  when  the 
government  had  been  forced  to  compromise  with  the  Post 
Office  employees,  members  of  this  and  of  other  parliament- 
ary committees  which  did  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  civil 
service  became  marked  men,  and  every  effort  was  made  to 
secure  their  defeat  at  elections. 

The  debates  in  Parliament  in  opposition  to  this  pressure, 
though  they  magnify  the  dangers  of  political  agitation,  cer- 

■  Sir  R.  E.  Welby,  Second  Ridley  Report,  p.  18. 


20-]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  205 

tainly  show  that  future  governments  must  be  prepared  to 
deal  quickly  and  thoroughly  with  undue  political  activity  of 
civil  servants/ 

In  191 2  the  postal  servants  demanded  that  the  Prime 
Minister  immediately  appoint  a  committee  to  redress  their 
grievances  on  pain  of  a  strike  during  the  Christmas  rush. 
The  report  of  the  Morning  Post  on  this  situation  is  worth 
quoting  in  full : 

Sections  of  Post  Office  workers  are  threatening  that  unless 
the  Government  concede  the  demand  of  the  postal  servants  for 
an  immediate  inquiry  into  their  alleged  grievances,  they  may 
strike  during  the  period  of  the  Christmas  rush.  No  actual  de- 
cision has  been  made  on  this  point,  and  though  extremists  are 
in  favour  of  drastic  and  immediate  action,  it  is  hoped  that 
wiser  councils  will  prevail  at  a  fully  representative  meeting 
in  Birmingham  of  postal  servants,  to  be  attended  by  70  dele- 
gates, representing  all  branches  of  the  service,  which  has  been 

^  Concerning  the  civil  servants  in  the  telegraph  departments,  Mr. 
Hugo  R.  Meyer,  an  American  opponent  of  public  ownership,  says: 

"...  Organized  in  huge  civil  service  unions,  the  telegraph  employees 
have  been  permitted  to  establish  the  policy  that  wages  and  salaries 
shall  be  fixed  in  no  small  degree  by  the  amount  of  political  pressure 
that  the  telegraph  employees  can  bring  to  bear  on  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  ...  To  a  considerable  degree  the  State  employees 
have  established  their  demand  that  promotion  be  made  according  to 
seniority  rather  than  merit.  In  more  than  one  Postmaster  General 
they  have  instilled  '  a  perfect  horror  of  passing  anyone  over.'  .... 
The  civil  servants  have  been  permitted  to  establish  to  a  greater  or  a 
lesser  degree  a  whole  host  of  demands  that  are  inconsistent  with  the 
economical  conduct  of  business.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the 
demand  that  the  standard  of  efficiency  may  not  be  raised  without 
reimbursement  to  those  who  take  the  trouble  to  come  up  to  the  new 
standard;  and  that  if  a  man  enters  the  service  when  the  proportion 
of  higher  officers  to  the  rank  and  file  is  i  to  19  he  has  an  'implied 
contract  with  the  Government  that  that  proportion  shall  not  be 
aUered  to  his  disadvantage  though  it  may  be  to  his  advantage.' "  The 
British  State  Telegraphs  and  Public  Ownership  (New  York,  1907),  pp. 
380,  381.     Cf.  also  pp.  385-386. 


2o6  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [206 

called  for  Sunday  exening  next,  and  at  a  further  meeting  at 
the  Memorial  Hall  on  the  following  day.  Briefly,  the  conten- 
tion of  the  disaffected  workers  is  that  while  there  has  been  an 
increase  in  the  cost  of  living,  there  has  been  no  corresponding 
increase  in  their  rates  of  pay.  The  Postmaster-General  has 
decided  that  no  inquiry  shall  take  place  until  after  the  Board 
of  Trade  inquiry  into  the  cost  of  living;  and  this,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  postal  servants,  means  that  no  redress  can  come  for 
three  or  four  years.  Another  grievance  is  that  the  men  are 
worked  at  higher  pressure  than  was  the  case  a  few  years  ago, 
and  are  consequently  more  liable  to  breakdown. 

The  situation  from  the  men's  standpoint  was  explained  yes- 
terday to  a  Morning  Post  representative  by  Mr.  W.  B.  Chees- 
man,  the  secretary  of  the  Fawcett  Association.  "  The  National 
Committee  of  Postal  and  Telegraph  Associations,"  he  said, 
"  consisting  of  postal,  telegraphic,  and  engineering  branches, 
and  representing  70,000  in  the  Federation,  have  been  nego- 
tiating for  an  inquiry  into  their  grievances  on  the  questions  of 
pay  and  conditions  of  service.  This  inquiry  has  been  conceded 
by  the  Government,  but  they  decided  not  to  appoint  a  Com- 
mittee until  1913.  The  Prime  Minister  was  asked  to  receive  a 
deputation,  as  it  was  felt  that  he  could  not  be  in  possession  of 
all  the  facts  bearing  on  the  case.  But  he  declined  to  meet  us, 
and  his  refusal  has  precipitated  the  present  trouble.  The 
70,000  men  I  have  mentioned  would  represent  a  great  propor- 
tion of  the  established  staff  of  the  Post  Office,  but  similar  so- 
cieties are  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  movement,  and  would 
doubtless  throw  in  their  lot  with  us.  They  have  been  holding 
protest  meetings  on  the  same  lines  as  ours.  So  far  the  Na- 
tional Committee  has  been  in  favour  of  ordinary  lines  of  pro- 
cedure, but  they  feel  that  they  have  not  been  treated  quite 
fairly  by  the  Postmaster-General  and  the  Government.  Per- 
sonally, I  do  not  approve  of  striking,  but  you  must  remember 
that  in  many  industries  the  executives  of  the  men's  Unions 
have  been  driven  beyond  the  policy  they  were  advocating. 
This  has  happened  in  the  case  of  the  boilermakers,  the  engi- 
neers, the  railwaymen.  and  the  miners,  and  it  is  the  pressure 


2oy]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  207 

of  the  rank  and  file  which  may  cause  extreme  action  to  be 
taken  in  the  present  crisis." 

Mr.  Cheesman  was  asked  what  conditions  of  service  the 
men  particularly  objected  to.  "  The  speeding  up  and  other 
practices  in  recent  years,"  he  said,  "  have  added  largely  to  the 
unrest.  Then  there  is  the  question  of  wages.  In  1904  the 
Bradford  Committee  reported  in  favour  of  considerable  im- 
provements in  the  wages  scale  of  existing  staffs ;  but  the  report 
has  been  entirely  ignored  by  both  Governments  which  have 
been  in  power  since  then.  The  Hobhouse  Committee  recom- 
mended certain  scales  of  pay,  which  have  also  been  denied  to 
the  existing  staff,  being  made  operative  only  for  new  entrants 
and  for  officers  of  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  under.  The 
increased  cost  of  living  is  a  very  big  factor  in  the  question. 
The  Postmaster-General  on  September  28th  recognized  that 
food-stuffs  alone  had  gone  up  in  London  4  per  cent  since  the 
Hobhouse  Committee  reported,  and  that  is  one  of  the  main 
factors  for  fixing  wages  in  the  postal  service.  We  are  prom- 
ised an  inquiry  in  191 3,  but  next  year  will  be  a  critical  one  for 
the  Government,  and  no  one  can  say  with  certainty  that  they 
will  be  in  power  when  the  time  comes  for  them  to  fulfil  their 
promise." 

In  the  London  Branch  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Clerks'  As- 
sociation, it  is  pointed  out,  the  position  is  more  acute.  A  strike 
here  would  mean  an  almost  complete  dislocation  of  the  tele- 
graph service  of  the  country,  since  such  an  action  would  affect 
2,500  men  and  women  employed  at  the  Central  Telegraph 
Office.  Their  grievances  refer  to  rates  of  pay  and  cost  of  liv- 
ing, and  include  a  complaint  as  to  maximum  salary.  They  also 
complain  of  understaffing,  espionage,  and  maladministration. 
A  special  meeting  has  been  called  for  Monday  evening  next 
in  the  Memorial  Hall  to  consider  the  following  proposal  sub- 
mitted by  some  of  the  members :  "  That  this  meeting  of  the 
members  of  the  London  Branch  P.  T.  C.  A.  hereby  expresses 
its  intense  dissatisfaction  at  the  reply  of  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral to  the  demand  for  an  early  increase  in  wages ;  and  further 
condemns  the  policy  of  the  National  Joint  Committee  which 


2o8  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [208 

led  up  to  this  defeat.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  action  of  the 
Postmaster-General  has  been  determined  by  the  fact  that  the 
Postal  Trade  Unions,  in  their  present  divided  state,  are  in- 
capable of  sustained  effort,  and  we  therefore  instruct  our  Ex- 
ecutive immediately  to  take  such  steps  as  may  be  necessary  in 
order  to  secure  the  abolition  of  the  sectional  nature  of  our 
organisation  and  the  substitution  of  one  common  organisation 
for  the  whole  of  the  workers  in  the  Civil  Service."  As  an 
amendment  to  this  the  Committee  will  move  the  deletion  of  all 
words  after  "  an  early  increase  in  wages." 

It  is  pointed  out  that  at  present  there  are  six  unions  for 
postal  servants  operating  in  the  United  Kingdom,  .  .  .  be- 
tween them  representing  about  80,000  employees  of  the  Post 
Office.  The  total  number  of  men  employed  in  the  course  of 
the  year  by  the  Post  Office  is  about  200,000,  but  about  90,000 
of  these  are  supernumeraries,  and  the  total  permanent  staff 
directly  employed  numbers  a  little  over  100,000.  The  diffi- 
culty heretofore  appears  to  have  been  to  secure  concerted 
action  among  the  different  unions.  It  is  doubtful  if  they  will 
succeed  at  the  present  time.  One  postal  servant  with  whom  a 
Morning  Post  representative  discussed  the  question  was 
strongly  of  opinion  that  they  would  not.  "  There  is  a  union 
in  every  grade  of  the  service,"  he  said,  '"  but  you  will  never 
get  them  to  combine  together,  and  I  very  much  question  if  any 
particular  union  would  unanimously  support  a  strike  move- 
ment. The  men  know  when  they  are  well  off.  If  the  Faw- 
cett  Association  called  a  strike  to-morrow  I  venture  to  say  that 
only  half  the  men  would  come  out."  It  is  also  pointed  out 
that  should  a  strike  take  place  the  public  would  not  be  unmind- 
ful of  the  inconvenience  caused  thereby  when  the  postmen 
make  their  annual  appeal  for  benevolence  as  soon  as  Christmas 
Day  is  over.    This  factor  ought  to  weigh  in  the  question. 

'I'he  strike  policy  in  this  case  was  probably  not  approved 
by  a  majority,  but  nevertheless  Mr.  Samuel,  the  Postmaster 
General,  bowed  to  the  demand  for  a  committee.  The  re- 
port of  this  committee  has   stirred   up  another   rebellion, 


209]  ^^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  209 

most   of   the   employees'   claims   having   been    disallowed. 
TJic  Times  ^  describes  the  resulting  deadlock  as  follows : 

A  special  conference  of  the  Postmen's  Federation  was  held 
at  Birmingham  on  Saturday  to  consider  the  Holt  Report. 
There  were  480  delegates  present,  representing  a  membership 
of  43,000.  .  .  . 

Mr.  G.  H.  Stuart,  general  secretary,  moved,  on  behalf  of 
the  executive,  "  That  this  conference  declines  to  accept  the  Re- 
port of  the  Select  Committee  as  a  propr  verdict  on  its  just  and 
moderate  claims.  It  emphatically  states  that  no  juggling  with 
pence  will  dispose  of  the  admitted  increase  in  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing, and  regards  the  proposals  to  increase  the  working  hours 
of  the  staff  under  the  guise  of  a  concession  as  an  insult  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  Post  Office  employees.  It  calls  upon  the 
Government  to  take  immediate  steps  to  deal  with  an  acute  and 
dangerous  situation." 

The  resolution  was  carried  by  a  large  majority. 

Mr.  F.  M.  P.  Campbell  (London)  moved,  "That  this  con- 
ference declares  in  favour  of  a  strike  policy." 

Mr.  Stuart,  general  secretary,  supported  the  resolution. 
His  reason  for  doing  so,  he  said,  was  that  their  possessing  a 
"  no-strike  "  policy  had  influenced  the  Holt  Committee.  He 
did  not  think  they  were  ready  to  come  out  on  strike,  but  by 
passing  the  resolution  they  would  let  members  see  that  they 
were  ready  to  take  up  a  more  vigorous  policy. 

On  a  card  vote  the  resolution  was  carried  by  549  votes  to 
175,  the  result  being  received  with  enthusiastic  cheering. 

On  Monday  and  Tuesday  a  joint  conference  of  the  Postal 
Telegraph  Clerks'  Association  and  the  United  Kingdom  Postal 
Clerks'  Association  was  held.  About  500  delegates  were  pres- 
ent, including  for  the  first  time  representatives  of  wireless 
telegraphists. 

The  conference  passed  a  resolution  rejecting  the  recommen- 
dations of  the  Committee  in  their  entirety,  and  adopted  by  a 

^  Sept.  25,  1913. 


2IO  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [210 

large  majority  a  motion  instructing  the  executive  committee 
to  take  steps  immediately  to  form  an  emergency  fund.  An 
instruction  to  take  a  plebiscite  of  the  members  was  also  agreed 
to.  It  was  further  resolved  by  a  large  majority  to  instruct  the 
executive  committee  to  institute  an  agitation  for  an  all-round 
immediate  increase  of  wages  commensurate  with  the  increased 
cost  of  living.  The  resolution  demanded  a  15  per  cent  increase 
in  wages  for  manipulative  grades  of  the  service,  the  increase 
to  take  effect  by  January  i,  1914;  and  an  increase  in  the  an- 
nual increments  of  all  classes  according  to  a  scale  agreed  upon. 
It  was  agreed  that,  failing  a  satisfactory  solution  within  six 
weeks,  a  further  special  conference  be  called  within  three 
weeks  from  such  failure  to  decide  the  further  action  of  the 
unions.  .  .  , 

The  Post  Office  on  Monday  issued  a  reply  to  the  criticisms 
which  have  recently  been  passed  on  the  proposals  of  the  Holt 
Report  by  the  various  postal  servants'  organizations  and  their 
leaders. 

It  is  pointed  out  that  the  claims  put  forward  by  the  staff 
would,  if  granted,  involve  an  additional  expenditure  of  £10,- 
000,000  a  year.  The  Select  Committee,  the  Report  of  which 
is  now  under  consideration,  recommends  improvements  in 
pay  and  conditions  of  service  which  will  increase  the  expendi- 
ture of  the  Post  Office  on  wages,  pensions,  &c.,  by  upwards 
of  £1,000,000  a  year.  On  the  complaint  that  the  increases  of 
pay  are  not  commensurate  with  the  recent  rise  in  the  cost  of 
living,  attention  is  called  to  the  statement  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee that  the  cost  of  living  is  still  at  about  the  same  level  as 
in  1884.  A  comparison  is  made  with  the  wages  and  conditions 
which  prevail  in  occupations  similar  to  those  of  postal  ser- 
vents,  and  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  fact  that  established  servants 
of  the  Post  Office  have  security  of  tenure,  prospect  of  a  pen- 
sion, generous  holidays  on  full  pay,  and  in  some  cases  free 
medical  attendance. 

It  will  be  surmised  that  the  "  strikers  "  are  not  very  sure 
of  themselves,  and  it  may  be  prophesied  that,  in  the  last 


21 1  ]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  211 

analysis,  they  will  probably  not  carry  out  their  threat.  It 
is  not,  however,  safe  to  generalize  from  this  situation  that 
none  more  serious  will  arise.  For  the  immediate  future 
English  traditionalism,  patriotism,  and  genius  for  compro- 
mise, lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  first  bitter  fruits  of  the  gen- 
eral strike  will  be  enjoyed  on  the  Continent. 

On  the  whole,  the  organizations  of  civil  servants — like 
the  organizations  of  trades  unions — seem  more  terrifying 
in  their  hot-headed  revolutionary  youth  than  in  their  ma- 
ture and  responsible  development.  There  can  be  no  sense 
in  attempting  to  gag  civil  servants.  A  reasonable  amount 
of  discussion  and  even  agitation  must  be  allowed.  For  the 
rest,  heads  of  departments  must  prepare  to  recognize  and 
encourage  the  responsible  committees  of  civil  service  organi- 
zations,^ to  treat  their  moderate  suggestions  with  the  utmost 
open-mindedness  and  respect,  and  to  send  their  recommenda- 
tions to  the  Treasury,  with  such  remarks  as  may  seem  per- 
tinent. Any  suggestion  of  a  permanent  arbitration  com- 
mittee, with  representatives  of  the  clerks  and  of  the  gov- 
ernment, to  decide  differences  between  employees  and  min- 
isters, is  at  present  simply  unthinkable.  There  should  be  a 
royal  commission  every  decade  to  inquire  into  all  irrecon- 
cilable differences. 

The  most  interested  and  mooted  question  before  the 
Royal  Commission  is  that  of  the  division  of  the  upper  cler- 
ical service  into  separate  classes  upon  the  basis  of  academic 
entrance  examinations.     We  have  seen  the  genesis  of  this 

^  The  Treasury  has  long  since  (see  Parliamentary  Papers,  1883, 
xxxviii,  p.  543)  made  rules  forbidding  subordinate  employees  to  ap- 
peal to  the  Treasury  directly  or  through  members  of  Parliament,  for 
promotion,  rise  in  salary,  etc.  These  applications  must  come  from 
heads  of  departments,  Lords  of  the  Admiralty,  and  commissioners  of 
Internal  Revenue. 


212  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [212 

division  and  its  development.  We  have  seen  that  at  the 
time  of  the  Playfair  and  of  the  Ridley  reports,  the  lower 
division  clerks  had  demanded  the  removal  of  a  bar  which 
they  claim  unjustly  discriminated  against  them.  They 
claimed  that  the  superior  education  of  the  aristocratic  class 
of  university  men  was  of  little  use  to  the  service,  and  that 
this  class,  though  nominally  employed  upon  a  higher  order 
of  work,  was  really  drawing  higher  salaries  for  work  which 
was  done  or  could  easily  be  done  by  lower  division  men.  It 
has  been  indicated  that  this  contention  of  the  second  divi- 
sion, except  in  so  far  as  it  applied  to  mere  numbers  in  the 
first  division,  has  not  been  supported  by  Parliament,  min- 
istries, or  royal  commissions,  and  that  time  has  merely 
shown  how  farsighted  was  Macaulay's  original  plan. 

We  have  seen  also  that  an  intermediate  division  has  been 
created,  and  we  shall  see  that  the  assistant  clerk  class,  partly 
recruited  from  boy  writers,  and  possessed  of  considerable 
education,  has  inherited  the  grievances  of  the  old  writer 
class  against  poor  pay  and  has  become  infected  with  the 
second  division  virus  for  free  promotion  and  no  classes. 
The  situation  is  indeed  curious.  There  is  a  second  division 
which  claims  that  it  is  capable  of  filling  all  the  highest  places 
in  the  ser\nce;  there  is  an  assistant  division,  which  claims 
that  it  not  only  can  do  as  well  as  the  second  division,  but 
that  it  is  really  employed  on  second  division  work  already 
and  in  some  cases  even  upon  intermediate  work.  Then 
there  are  boy  clerks  who  are  supposed  to  be  about  as  good 
as  the  assistant  men  clerks,  and  writers  who  demand  to  be 
established  on  the  ground  that  they  are  quite  capable  of 
better  things.  And,  finally,  there  is  the  beginning  of  the 
employment  of  women  typists  who,  it  seems,  have  as  yet 
no  pressing  grievances. 

The  Royal  Commission  has  published  voluminous  evi- 
dence on  the  subject  of  democracy  and  classes.     The  testi- 


213]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  213 

mony  is  almost  complete.  It  remains  to  quote  some  of  the 
leading  evidence  on  each  side  before  the  Royal  Commission, 
and,  in  the  absence  of  the  verdict  of  the  commission  and  the 
Treasury',  to  estimate  how  much  change  is  likely  to  be  made 
in  the  class  system,  and  what  new  schemes  of  educational 
requirements  and  of  promotion  in  the  service  are  likely  to 
be  adopted. 

Before  presenting  the  memorial  of  the  second  division 
clerks,  it  is  essential  that  the  present  possibilities  for  pro- 
motion from  the  second  division  be  understood.  The  rule 
laid  down  by  the  Order  in  Council  of  1890,  following  the 
Ridley  report,  is  that  there  is  promotion  from  the  second 
division  to  the  first  only  upon  special  recommendation  of 
the  head  of  a  department,  followed  by  the  consent  of  the 
Treasury  and  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  and  only  after 
the  clerk  has  been  at  least  eight  years  in  the  service.  In 
nineteen  years  (1892-1911)  there  were  only  73  such  pro- 
motions ;  and  there  were  in  addition  a  few  second  division 
clerks  who  entered  the  first  division  after  taking  the  first 
division  examination.  Second  division  men  are  allowed  to 
exceed  the  usual  age  limits  for  the  first  division  examina- 
tions. 

But  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  there  are  a  number  of 
offices  in  which  there  are  only  second  division  men  and  in 
which  all  higher  appointments  are  made  from  them;  and 
that  in  almost  all  offices  some  staff  appointments  with  high 
salaries  are  reserved  for  second  division  clerks.^  Thus, 
there  have  been  in  the  last  twenty  years  some  1,500  promo- 
tions of  second  division  clerks  to  positions  equivalent  to  di- 
vision I  posts,  at  least  in  point  of  salary.  It  is  considered 
by  the  Treasury  that  there  is  a  real  distinction  between  the 
work  done  by  these  staff  officers  and  the  work  done  by  first 

^  Notably    in    the    Admiralty,    Inland    Revenue,    Local    Government 
Board,  Board  of  Trade,  and  War,  Estates'  Duty,  and  Post  Offices. 


214  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [214 

division  men,  an  intellectual  distinction,  though  the  two 
kinds  of  work  may  have  the  same  market  value  and  earn  the 
same  salaries.  Thus,  the  assistant  director  of  stores  at  the 
Admiralty,  a  promoted  second  division  clerk,  receives  from 
£800  to  £900,  while  a  first  division  senior  clerk  in  the  Treas- 
ury receives  about  the  same  amount;  but  it  is  claimed  that 
the  work  of  a  Treasury  first  division  clerk  requires  a  kind 
of  education  and  intellectual  background  not  at  all  neces- 
sary or  even  desirable  in  an  efficient  director  of  stores.. 
This  is  no  disparagement  of  the  work  of  the  latter.  He  is 
paid  equally  well,  but  for  a  dififerent  and,  on  the  whole,  more 
easily  obtainable  ability.^ 

There  is  a  Treasury  rule  that  a  second  division  clerk  pro- 
moted to  the  first  division,  does  not  carry  his  old  salary  to 
his  new  position,  probably  because  he  enters  upon  an  en- 
tirely dififerent  kind  of  work.  Thus  a  promotion  of  this 
kind  would  probably  imply  a  fall  in  salary,  since  a  second 
division  man  of  eight  years'  or  more  standing  is  sure  to  be 
receiving  more  than  the  initial  first  division  pay.  It  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  see  what  justification  there  is  for  such 
a  rule,  beyond  that  of  economy.  Certainly  a  second  divi- 
sion man  so  exceptional  as  to  deserve  promotion  to  the  first 
division  is  also  capable  of  earning  more  than  green  first  di- 
vision men. 

1 "  By  way  of  illustrating  possibilities  it  may  be  stated  that  the 
undermentioned  important  posts  are  now  held  by  promoted  Second 
Division  Clerks,  viz. :— The  Assistant  Directorship  of  Stores  at  the 
Admiralty  (iSoo  to  £900),  a  Principal  Clerkship  at  the  Admiralty 
(£850  to  £1,000),  a  Commissionership  of  Income  Tax  in  the  Inland 
Revenue  Department  (£850  to  £1,000),  the  Secretaryship  in  the  Estate 
Duty  Office  of  the  Inland  Revenue  Department  (£1,200),  an  Acting 
Principal  Clerkship  at  the  War  Office  (£900),  two  Chief  Accountant- 
ships in  the  Army  Accounts  Branch  (£850  to  £1,000),  the  Secretary- 
ship of  the  Irish  Land  Commission  (£1,200),  the  Accountant-General- 
ship of  the  Navy  (£1,500),  and  the  Receivership  of  the  Metropolitan 
Police  (£1,200  to  £1,500)."     See  Civil  Service  Year  Book,  1912. 


215]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  215 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  claims  presented  to  the  Royal 
Commission  by  the  Association  of  Second  Division  Clerks 
in  a  remarkably  clear  and  lucid  memorial/  Their  argu- 
ments are  directed  mainly  against  the  system  of  patronage 
in  making  appointments  and  against  a  class  barrier.  We 
have  already  touched  on  the  patronage  question.  The 
memorial  makes  a  straightforward  plea  for  open  competi- 
tion, a  plea  which  is  probably  unanswerable  in  the  case  of 
numerous  offices  now  anomalously  filled  by  limited  competi- 
tion and  nomination;  but  the  obvious  objections  to  filling 
clerkships  in  the  Foreign  Office  by  open  competition  are  not 
considered  by  the  second  division  clerks,  and  in  the  further 
discussion  of  patronage  there  are  a  number  of  unsubstan- 
tiated charges,  including  unjustifiable  aspersions  on  the  im- 
partiality of  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  and  of  the  Selec- 
tion Committee  for  Labor  Exchanges  who  are  accused  of 
"  notorious  cases  of  jobbery  ".  The  second  division  clerks 
seem  to  think  that  every  promotion  from  the  unestablished 
group  of  writers  which  exists  in  various  parts  of  the  ser- 
vice, is  a  case  of  patronage.  With  more  cogency  they  com- 
plain because  a  very  efficient  Liberal  whip.  Sir  Ernest 
Soares,  has  been  appointed  from  political  life  to  be  assistant 
controller  of  the  National  Debt  Office. 

We  come  now  to  the  question  of  the  barrier.  The  claim 
of  the  second  division  clerks  is  "  that  a  sufficient  standard 
of  education  is  attained  by  the  Second  Division  to  enable 
them  to  fill  any  post  in  the  Civil  Service  ",  and  that,  if  any- 
thing, their  attainments  are  too  high  for  their  work  and 
are  not  utilized.  This  claim  is  based  on  the  belief  that  there 
is  no  possibility  of  distinguishing  between  administrative 
and  clerical  work,  and  that  there  is  no  real  distinction  be- 
tween offices  in  which  the  higher  posts  are  open  to  second 

1  See  Appendix  V,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  1912,  p. 
483  et  seq. 


2i6  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [216 

division  men,  and  offices  in  which  they  are  filled  by  the  first 
division.  For  example,  the  memorial  claims  that  the  work 
of  the  Customs  Secretary's  Office  was  being  efficiently  dis- 
charged by  second  division  men  when,  in  1909,  for  no  good 
reason  it  was  decided  to  divide  the  office  and  recruit  the 
upper  part  by  first  division  examinations. 

The  memorial  states  that  the  intermediate  division  was 
founded  merely  to  bring  in  Public  School  boys.  The  official 
reason  has  already  been  stated.  There  seems,  however,  to 
have  been  some  injustice  done  to  second  division  clerks 
who  were  transferred  to  other  offices  when  the  intermediate 
scheme  came  into  effect. 

The  second  division  clerks  unquestionably  show  that  they 
are  as  a  class  highly  intelligent  and  ambitious.  They  quote 
the  example  of  second  division  men  who  have  devoted  their 
leisure  hours  to  the  study  of  government  and  law,  some- 
times with  conspicuous  success.  The  writer  is  acquainted 
with  a  second  division  clerk  in  the  Board  of  Agri- 
culture who  took  a  B.  Sc.  degree  at  London  University  in 
political  science,  with  first  class  honors.  He  is,  as  we  shall 
see,  in  an  office  in  which  there  is  no  higher  division;  he  is 
eligible  for  staff  posts  and  technical  positions  there;  but  it 
is  felt  by  many  that  he  ought  to  be  eligible  for  a  first  divi- 
sion appointment  elsewhere. 

The  second  division  memorial  quotes  with  approval  this 
statement  by  Professor  Edwin  Cannan  of  the  London 
School  of  Economics : 

"  I  have  been  rather  struck  myself  with  the  ability  of  the 
Second  Division  Civil  Servants.  I  daresay,  as  an  average, 
their  ability  is  not  very  high,  but  the  ability  of  the  people  who 
come  to  us,  who  are,  of  course,  a  picked  lot,  is  very  consid- 
erable." 

In  answer  to  further  questions :"...!  have  had  a  good 
many  of  these  Second  Division  Civil  Servants,  who  are  really 


217]  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  217 

very  capable,  so  much  so  that  it  makes  me  doubt  whether  the 
present  chasm  between  the  two  divisions  is  expedient." 

On  being  questioned  regarding  the  difference  between  a  man 
trained  at  Oxford  and  an  evening  student  at  the  London 
School  of  Economics,  Professor  Cannan  replied :  "  .  .  .  the 
difference  between  them  is  rather  like  the  difference  between 
men  and  women  ...  it  is  a  thing  very  difficult  to  define  and 
give  a  satisfactory  account  of.  It  is  a  question  of  previous 
education  and  surroundings  very  largely.  You  get  rather 
more  intelligence,  perhaps,  out  of  our  people  than  you  do  out 
of  the  young  man  at  Oxford.  On  the  other  hand,  the  young 
man  at  Oxford  has  a  better  literary  education,  his  power  of 
expression  is  greater,  and  your  feelings  are  not  violated  by  a 
number  of  things  which  are  rather  annoying  in  the  work  of 
others." 

{Sir  Robert  Morant.)  "...  You  do  not  think,  a  priori, 
there  would  be  much  difference  between  the  one  and  the 
other?" 

{Professor  Cannan.)  "...  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  so. 
I  do  not  think  I  should  send  my  own  son  here  in  preference 
to  sending  him  to  Oxford.  ...  I  say  that  is  a  question  of 
social  environment.  When  a  man  has  been  at  one  of  the  older 
Universities  he  feels  he  is  one  of  a  class  which,  he  believes, 
enjoys  some  public  esteem,  and  it  gives  him  confidence,  which 
is  always  something."  ^ 

In  support  of  its  contentions  the  memorial  also  quotes 
from  a  high  colonial  official : 

It  cannot  be  said  that  their  [the  Second  Division]  position 
is  altogether  satisfactory,  and  it  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most 
difficult  questions  with  which  the  heads  of  an  office  have  con- 
stantly to  deal.  It  is  a  general  understanding  that  their  work 
is  of  a  different  class  from  that  of  the  Higher  Division ;  and, 

1  Extract  from  Third  Report,  Appendix,  of  the  Royal  Commission 
on   University  Education  in  London. 


2i8  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN         [218 

not  having  passed  the  higher  examination,  they  are  naturally 
shut  off  from  the  higher  appointments. 

But  it  is  inevitable,  especially  in  such  a  department  as  the 
Colonial  Office,  that  some  of  them  should  occasionally  be  called 
upon  to  perform  work  that,  while  it  can  hardly  be  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  Higher  Division,  nevertheless  does  not  carry 
with  it  the  same  advantages,  and  I  am  afraid  that  the  con- 
sciousness of  this  has  been  productive  of  a  growing  feeling  of 
discontent. 

It  seems  to  me,  in  fact,  that  some  revision  of  the  existing 
regulations  will  before  long  become  absolutely  necessary. 
Many  of  this  class  in  the  Colonial  Office  have  served  directly 
under  me,  and  I  can  unhesitatingly  testify  to  the  valuable 
nature  of  their  services. 

I  should  be  only  too  glad  to  see  their  position  improved, 
and  I  trust  that  it  will  not  be  long  before  some  improvement 
takes  place.^ 

The  clerical  reorganization  proposed  by  the  memorial  is 
this: 

The  first  division  to  be  abolished  as  a  separate  class. 

In  future  to  be  two  classes — a  first  grade  into  w^hich  will 
be  merged  the  present  first,  intermediate,  and  second  divi- 
sions, and  a  second  grade,  composed  of  boy  clerks  and  as- 
sistant clerks. 

The  first  grade  to  be  recruited  at  the  normal  age  of  leav- 
ing a  secondary  school — 17>4  to  19^  years. 

The  intermediate  scheme  of  examination  to  be  used,  but 
so  modified  as  to  offer  equal  chances  to  boys  "  leaving  any 
type  of  school." 

The  memorial  magnanimously  consents  to  allow  univer- 
sity men  to  enter  the  service  by  a  higher  examination,  so 
arranged  that  Oxford  and  Cambridge  men  will  have  no  ad- 
vantage, the  university  men  thus  chosen  to  count  five  years' 

'  Appendix  V,  Second  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission,  p.  490. 


2IC)]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  219 

seniority,  but  to  be  otherwise  on  a  level  with  the  ordinary 
first  grade  men.^ 

The  boy  clerks,  who  are  all  to  be  absorbed  into  the  as- 
sistant clerk  class,  to  be  recruited  at  about  14  or  15  >^  years, 
the  elementary  school-leaving  age,  and  to  be  compelled  to 
attend  compulsory  continuation  classes  for  three  years,  then 
to  be  eligible  for  assistant  clerkships,  specially  well-paid 
supervisory  positions,  and  for  exceptional  promotion  to 
grade  I. 

This  is  an  ingenious  leveling-up-and-down  scheme  in  the 
interests  of  the  second  division,  which  is  calculated  to  re- 
move distinctions  between  the  three  upper  divisions  and 
perpetuate  new  distinctions  between  grade  I  and  grade  II; 
and  the  question  arises  as  to  what  grade  II  think  and  may 
be  expected  to  think  of  their  new  status. 

The  assistant  clerks  also  handed  in  a  memorial.^  Their 
present  opportunities  of  promotion  into  the  second  division 
are  very  fair.  After  six  years'  service  they  may  rise  by  or 
without  examination  to  the  second  division.  Their  claims 
are  curiously  like  those  of  the  second  division;  but  unlike 

»  Apart  from  the  question  of  the  actual  value  and  need  of  first 
division  men,  it  is  palpable  that  university  men  would  not  enter  the 
service  under  such  condi  ions  as  this  memorial  proposes.  It  will  be 
remembered  that,  in  1853,  there  were  many  critics  who  denied  that  the 
best  university  scholars  could  be  attracted  into  a  profession  so  ill-paid, 
obscure  and  uninteresting.  This  anticipation  was  not  realized;  but 
it  is  still  a  source  of  wonder  to  political  heads  of  offices  that  talented 
university  men  are  willing  to  remain  in  the  restricted  field  of  the  civil 
service.  These  are  frequently  men  who  might  have  had  greater  scope 
in  the  open  professions.  They  must  adjust  themselves  to  first  division 
rou'ine,  just  as  there  are  men  of  more  modest  endowments  below 
them  who  must  at  present  accustom  themselves  to  the  four  walls  of 
the  second  division.  The  existing  attractions  to  university  men  are 
not  too  great.  If  they  are  reduced,  the  best  men  in  universities  will 
not  enter  the  civil  service. 

»  Appendix  VII,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  495  et  seq. 


220  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [220 

the  second  division/  it  is  palpable  that  they  are  scandalously 
underpaid  and  that  this  grievance  must  be  redressed.  They 
show  that  the  wage  at  21  is  not  sufficient  for  a  decent  liv- 
ing, and  that  marriage  before  30  is  quite  out  of  question. 
The  government  is  not  in  this  respect  a  model  employer. 

The  economy  responsible  for  the  institution  of  the  Assistant 
Clerk  Class  results  in  the  passage  from  youth  to  manhood  of  a 
large  number  of  boys,  educationally  well  equipped  and  spe- 
cially selected,  being  made  in  poverty-stricken  circumstances. 
Forced  to  exist  amid  the  dismal  environment  obtaining 
amongst  that  section  of  the  community  which,  in  large  cities, 
has  to  preserve  respectability  of  appearance  under  the  most 
trying  economic  conditions,  what  real  happiness  in  life  can  be 
theirs?  Unable  to  marry  at  a  proper  age,  and  when  married 
to  bring  up  a  family  under  decent  conditions,  the  course  of 
time  brings  but  little  relief.  Such  economy  cannot  be  regarded 
as  worthy  of  the  dignity  of  the  State,  and  is  not,  therefore,  to 
be  commended.^ 

The  assistant  clerks  also  claim  that  they  are  too  well  edu- 
cated for  the  work  they  are  paid  for,  that  they  are  fre- 
quently employed  upon  second  division  work,  and  that 
"  there  is  no  real  difference  between  the  work  allotted  to 
the  Second  Division  and  [that  allotted  to]  some  Assistant 
Clerks  ".  They  claim  that  they  have  even  more  than  the 
"  ordinary  commercial  education  "  which  the  Ridley  Com- 
mission said  constituted  the  bulk  of  work  of  the  govern- 
ment departments ;  and  they  claim  that  there  was  no  au- 
thority in  the  Playfair  or  Ridley  reports  for  the  creation  of 
an  assistant  clerk  class.    They  demand  a  proportionate  sys- 

*  It  is  claimed  by  high  officials  that  the  second  division  clerks  are 
paid  more  than  the  corresponding  clerks  in  private  employ.  It  is 
calculated  that  if  the  wealth  of  the  nation  were  equally  divided,  each 
man  with  a  family  would  have  £150,  exactly  the  salary  of  an  ordinary 
second  division  clerk  between  27  and  30. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  498. 


22 1 ]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  221 

tern  of  promotion  to  the  second  division,  one  for  every 
three  vacancies  arising.  "  It  is  obviously  impossible,  short 
of  cast-iron  rules,  to  keep  a  body  of  men,  so  educated  and 
trained,  permanently  in  the  service  on  these  '  copying  and 
simple  duties  '  which  have  been  so  lightheartedly  assigned 
to  the  class."  Just  as  the  second  division  insisted  that  ad- 
ministrative and  clerical  work  could  not  be  separated,  the 
assistant  clerks  claim  that  "  excepting  copying,  the  clerical 
work  cannot  be  divided  so  as  to  be  done  by  different  classes." 
The  assistant  clerks'  scheme  of  reorganization  is,  there- 
fore, that  the  first  division  be  retained  for  h'gh  adminis- 
trative work,  but  that  the  second  division  (intermediate  ?) 
and  assistant  clerks  be  in  one  clerical  division  recruited  by  a 
single  entrance  examination,  with  a  standard  something 
like  the  present  assistant  clerks'  examination  standard.  The 
boy  clerks  would  be  abolished  and  democracy  introduced. 

National  Fairness. 
It  is  submitted  that  the  method  of  recruiting  by  means  of 
one  entrance  examination,  besides  making  for  efficiency,  is 
more  democratic.  Certainly  under  it  the  very  poor  classes 
would  continue  to  be  at  a  great  disadvantage,  but  not  to  such 
an  extent  as  is  at  present  the  case,  while  on  the  other  hand 
the  better  classes  of  working  people,  the  lower  middle,  and  the 
middle  classes  would  be  put  upon  more  equitable  terms  with 
the  upper  middle,  and  wealthy  classes.^ 

Let  us  see  now  what  some  of  the  superior  officials  think 
about  the  necessity  of  class  distinctions  and  of  the  work  of 
first  division  men.  Viscount  Haldane,  formerly  War  Sec- 
retary, now  Lord  Chancellor,  who  brought  to  the  investiga- 
tion not  only  his  parliamentary,  administrative,  and  legal 
experience,  but  also  a  wide  knowledge  of  German  education 
and  government,  gave  the  most  profound  and  significant,  if 

1  Appendix  VII,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  502. 


222  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [222 

not  the  most  topical,  evidence  submitted  to  the  commission. 
A  few  quotations  will  show  his  position  on  the  first  division 
''  and  class  questions.  He  believes  that  the  intelligence,  the 
cultivated  tastes,  the  outlook  on  life,  and  the  university  as- 
sociations of  the  first  division  are  indispensable.  He  is  not 
a  blind  admirer  of  the  older  universities.  He  looks  forward 
to  the  successful  competition  of  men  from  the  new  universi- 
ties, but  holds  that  at  present  the  leading  scholars  of  the 
older  universities,  and  particularly  those  who  have  taken 
honors  in  the  Humaner  Letters,  have  the  finest  equipment 
for  superior  work  in  the  civil  service.  He  wants,  however, 
to  see  other  kinds  of  ability  and  education  attracted  into 
the  service,  and  recommends  the  appointment  without  ex- 
amination of  students  distinguished  in  graduate  work.  He 
would  employ  more  first  division  men  on  original  work.  In 
the  last  Cjuotation  it  will  be  seen  that  Lord  Haldane  is  con- 
vinced that  the  present  inequalities  can  only  be  remedied  by 
a  complete  development  of  popular  education. 

Then  might  I  alter  my  question  and  say  that  an  education 
at  a  resident  university  and  the  general  atmosphere  of  a  uni- 
versity gives  you  the  type  of  man  you  want  for  the  higher 
division? — Yes,  emphatically. 

But  do  not  you  think  that  a  second  division  clerk  who  has 
/  had  a  few  years'  experience  in  business  before  he  entered  the 
^  Civil  Service  would  be  quite  as  likely  to  develop  the  power  of 
handling  men  and  to  administer  as  a  person  of  similar  age 
whose  time  has  been  spent  at  the  university? — I  do  not  think 
so.  In  the  Civil  Service,  when  a  Civil  servant  conies  in  con- 
tact with  an  outside  citizen  he  does  not  bully  him  or  command 
him ;  he  has  to  persuade  him  and  make  the  outsider  see  that 
the  point  of  view  which  the  system  of  the  Civil  Service  repre- 
sents is  a  reasonable  one,  and  that  depends  on  the  power  to 
take  a  large  view  and  to  get  at  the  principle  and  reason  of  the 
thing  as  distinguished  from  what  is  laid  down  in  the  Regu- 
lation ;  and  my  experience  now,  which  is  considerable,  is  that 


223]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  223 

the  highly  trained  first  division  clerk  is  quite  admirable  for 
getting  alongside  the  mind  of  the  soldier,  for  getting  alongside 
the  mind  of  the  civilian  in  the  county  association,  for  getting 
alongside  the  minds  of  the  one  hundred  and  one  people  you 
have  to  deal  with  in  a  complicated  organisation  such  as  I  have 
had  to  preside  over  for  some  years  past.^ 

If  you  have  no  other  remarks  to  make  on  the  Class  I.  ex- 
amination perhaps  you  will  say  something,  if  you  desire  to  do 
so,  on  the  lower  examination  for  Class  II.,  especially  on  the 
multiplicity  of  examinations  in  the  lower  division? — I  should 
like  to  say  something  about  that.  The  Class  II.  man  is  very 
often  an  admirable  man,  and  you  get  a  very  good  quality  of 
man.  His  difficulty  is  that  he  has  not  got  education  in  the  real 
sense  up  to  his  age.  If  he  is  going  to  be  examined  at  17  or  18 
he  has  too  often  left  the  secondary  school  prematurely  in  order 
to  prepare  for  the  examination,  and  the  result  is  that  the  ex- 
amination never  can  approximate  at  that  level  so  closely  to 
the  teaching  as  is  the  case  with  the  higher  examination.  For 
the  higher  examination  the  class  of  question  that  is  more  and 
more  put  is  a  question  designed  to  show  whether  the  candidate 
has  an  original  view  of  some  sort.  It  does  not  very  much 
matter  whether  it  is  his  original  view  or  that  of  his  teacher, 
or  whether  it  is  the  university's  original  view  or  his  own;  it 
does  not  matter  so  much  whether  he  is  right  or  wrong  in  the 
opinion  of  the  examiner  as  whether  he  shows  that  he  has  been 
trained  to  think  and  to  observe,  but  that  is  because  the  uni- 

1  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  see  question  1770, 
1781.  The  Civilian,  criticizing  this  evidence,  said :  "  Lord  Haldane 
not  having  passed  through  the  lovirer  ranks  of  the  Service  will  never 
know  much  that  undeniable  fault  is  the  result  of  the  very  system  he  is 
inclined  to  support. 

"If  he  had  had  that  experience  he  would  have  discovered  to  what 
extent  thinking  for  oneself  is  penalized  in  the  lower  and  larger  divis- 
ions, and  how  much  the  uniformity  and  lack  of  imaginativeness  is  im- 
pressed on  the  workers  by  the  routine  nature  of  their  duties.  It  is 
largely  a  matter  of  scope.  Any  thinking  man  with  leisure  could 
devise  a  hundred  plans  for  governing  a  country,  but  only  a  genius 
could  find  two  methods  of  boiling  an  egg." 


224  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [224 

versity  is  essentially  different  from  the  school.  In  the  univer- 
sity teacher  and  taught  are  together  on  a  voyage  of  discovery, 
exploring  regions  which  to  both  of  them  are  unknown,  and 
the  stimulating  personality  of  the  teacher  leads  on  the  student 
and  stimulates  him ;  but  he  does  not  impose  upon  him  an  au- 
thoritative view,  and  very  often  the  student  does  not  accept 
the  authority  of  the  professor.  But  the  lower  you  get  in  edu- 
cation the  more  mechanical  is  the  process  when  a  statement 
from  a  book  or  an  authority  is  given  and  the  pupil  has  to  ac- 
cept it;  consequently  the  examination  is  always  based  more 
or  less  on  what  has  to  be  taken  on  authority  and  on  what  de- 
pends on  memory  as  distinguished  from  what  depends  on 
originality  and  trainedness  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the  pupil. 
The  result  is  that  a  pupil  who  leaves  the  secondary  school,  say, 
at  15,  or  perhaps  has  not  gone  there  at  all,  in  his  preparation 
for  the  examination  has  to  anticipate  all  the  possible  authori- 
tative questions — and  you  know  why  I  use  the  term  "  authori- 
tative "  now — which  the  examiner  may  put  to  him,  and  the 
tendency  to  cram  becomes  more  and  more  serious  and  formid- 
able than  in  the  case  of  the  higher  class  examination.  I  am 
not  underrating  cramming,  I  am  not  underrating  even  cram- 
ming for  examinations,  because  they  do  provide  for  concentra- 
tion, and  they  set  a  man  to  work.  I  have  known  men  who 
were  made  by  having  to  prepare  for  an  external  examination ; 
it  is  good  of  its  kind,  but  it  is  not  education  in  the  best  sense 
of  the  word,  nor  does  it  produce  the  best  quality  of  an  edu- 
cated mind.  That  is  my  criticism  upon  the  machinery  by 
which  we  produce  the  lower  division ;  and  the  more  examina- 
tions there  are  the  worse  it  becomes.^  .  .  . 

1  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  see  question  1675. 
An  extreme  example  of  this  suspicion,  almost  fear,  of  cram- 
ming, and  also  of  the  Macaulay-Haldane  insistence  upon  a  lib- 
eral academic  education  as  a  better  test  of  fitness  than  any 
mere  technical  text  book  knowledge  of  the  duties  ahead,  appears 
in  the  appointment  of  inspectors  and  assistants  of  inspectors  of 
factories  in  the  Home  Office.  The  two  classes  are  distinct  and  separ- 
ate. For  the  assistants,  a  number  of  years  of  actual  working  ex- 
perience in   a    factory   or   workshop   is   required.     For   the   inspectors 


225]  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  '        225 

I  was  very  much  interested  to  hear  your  remarks  with  re- 
only  a  difficult  academic  education  is  set  up,  and  they  are  expected  to 
learn  their  duties  and  their  factory  law  while  on  probation.  The  idea, 
of  course,  is  that  the  man  of  sound  general  education  will  get  his 
practical  knowledge  quickly  in  office,  while  the  assistant  must  have 
practical  experience  beforehand  because,  in  the  absence  of  education 
and  mental  training,  this  is  the  only  security  that  he  is  fit  for  the  job. 
An  excerpt  from  the  evidence  of  Sir  Edward  Troup,  K.C.B.,  Per- 
manent Under  Secretary  of  the  Home  Office,  will  show,  at  any  rate, 
that  this  system  is  somewhat  hard  to  defend  under  cross-examination : 

"At  one  time  was  practical  acquaintance  with  factories  and  work- 
shops a  subject  of  examination? — No,  never.  At  one  time  a  knowl- 
edge of  factory  law  was ;  but  I  do  not  think  you  could  possibly  have 
an  examination  in  practical  acquaintance  with  factories  and  work- 
shops." 

"  But  at  one  time  a  knowledge  of  factory  law  was  necessary  at  the 
first  examination? — Yes,  for  a  long  time,  up  till  in  fact  quite  recently, 
but  it  was  found  to  be  a  regular  cram  subject,  and  it  was  dropped  and 
deferred  until  after  two  years'  service." 

"  That  change  was  made  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  I  believe. — Yes." 

"  An  inspector  can  be  appointed  now  without  having  given  any  evi- 
dence that  he  has  any  knowledge  of  factory  law? — Yes,  that  has  been 
one  of  the  great  improvements  that  have  been  made." 

"And  he  is  at  once  put  upon  the  work  of  inspection  of  factories? — 
Yes,  he  goes  round  with  an  inspector  and  learns  his  work  with  him." 

"  And  he  has  given  no  evidence  whatever  that  he  knows  anything 
about  factory  law,  or  about  sanitary  laws  governing  factories?— 
Quite  so.  It  is  his  business  to  learn  that  during  his  first  year  or  two 
of  holding  the  office.  If  he  does  not  make  himself  an  expect  in  factory 
law  and  sanitary  law  within  his  first  two  years  he  would  be  dropped 
out." 

"  But  in  these  two  years  he  is  doing  the  work  of  inspector  of  fac- 
tories?— Quite  so." 

"Although  he  does  not  know  anything  at  all  about  factory  law? — 
Although  he  is  rapidly  learning  about  it." 

"And  he  is  expected  to  find  out  violations  of  the  factory  law? — He 
is  certainly  expected  to.  He  goes  first  with  another  inspector,  and 
then  as  far  as  his  knowledge  goes,  which  is  rapidly  extending,  he  dis- 
covers infractions  of  the  factory  law." 

"  But  long  before  the  two  years  he  is  inspecting  on  his  own? — Yes, 
and  long  before  the  two  years,  if  he  is  worth  anything,  he  is  well 
qualified  in  factory  law.  .  .  ." 

"  Then  you  had  an  examination  for  English  composition.  They  were 
asked  to  write  an  essay  upon  '  Corporations  have  no  conscience,'  or 


226  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [226 

gard  to  the  new  universities.    Would  you  be  surprised  to  hear 

'  Algeria  and  Australia  are  different  types  of  Colonies,'  or  '  The  ideals 
of  trades  unionism.'  One  of  the  optional  subjects  is  English  liter- 
ature and  English  history.  Again,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  object  of 
the  examination  is  to  get  the  man  who  shows  the  possession  of  knowl- 
edge and  ability  to  enable  him  to  undertake  these  very  important 
duties,  I  suppose  I  am  right  in  saying  that  the  scheme  of  examination 
has  been  framed  by  the  Home  Ofifice. — Yes,  the  scheme  of  the  examin- 
ation." 

"With  the  sanction  of  the  Treasury? — The  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sioners have  a  good  deal  of  say  in  it.  However,  I  think  the  Home 
Office  must  take  the  responsibility  for  the  subjects  but  not  for  the 
Papers." 

"  In  English  history,  this  aspirant  for  the  position  of  inspector  is 
asked :  '  When,  and  under  what  circumstances,  did  Milton  write 
"  Paradise  Lost "  ?'  Do  you  think  the  answer  to  a  question  like  that 
indicates  the  possession  of  knowledge  that  is  likely  to  be  of  great 
service  in  discharging  the  duties  of  a  factory  inspector?— H  the  object 
were  to  test  his  knowledge  which  he  is  likely  to  bring  to  bear  on  his 
inspection  duties,  it  would  be  absolutely  useless;  but  that  is  not  the 
object  of  the  examination.  The  object  of  the  examination  is  to  find 
a  man  who  has  sufficient  intellectual  capacity  and  adaptability  to  make 
a  good  factory  inspector." 

"  Do  you  think  a  question  like  that  is  calculated  to  bring  out  a  man's 
intellectual  adaptability?— Taken  by  itself,  of  course  not.  but  taken  as 
part  of  a  Paper  on  English  literature  probably  it  is." 

"  Let  us  pass  away  to  modern  history.  He  is  asked  to  sketch  the 
career  of  William  the  Silent.  Do  you  think  a  man  who  could  sketch 
the  career  of  William  the  Silent  is  more  likely  to  become  a  good 
factory  inspector  than  a  man  who  could  answer  questions  bearing 
upon  factory  law  and  sanitary  law?— Yes,  to  sketch  the  career  of 
William  the  Silent  you  want  a  good  general  knowledge  of  the  history 
of  that  period.  To  answer  a  question  on  factory  law.  such  as  would  be 
set  in  these  Papers,  you  would  only  want  to  cram  for  three  months." 

"Would  not  the  same  thing  apply  to  his  knowledge  of  history?— 
No,  I  do  not  think  so— not  to  the  same  extent.  I  know  history  is 
rather  a  cram  subject  too,  but  I  certainly  think  the  question  about 
William  the  Silent  would  be  a  much  better  test  question  of  a  man's 
capabilities  than  a  stock  question  on  factory  law." 

"But  if  the  man  did  cram  on  factory  law  and  sanitary  law  he  would 
have  acquired  the  knowledge  by  cramming?— Yes,  a  knowledge  which 
he  could  acquire  very  much  better  in  connection  with  the  practical 
work  of  inspection  "  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission, 
p.  122  et  seq. 


227]  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  22/ 

that  the  new  universities  are  providing  practically  no  candi- 
dates at  all  for  the  higher  division  of  the  Civil  Service? — The 
reasons  for  that  is,  I  think,  not  very  far  to  seek.  The  new 
universities,  in  the  first  place,  are  only  getting  their  students 
together,  and  in  the  second  place,  their  students  go  largely  into 
the  professions ;  but,  I  can  only  say,  knowing  a  great  deal  of 
the  new  universities  (I  am  chancellor  of  one  and  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  foundation  of  others),  that,  looking 
through  the  Civil  Service  examination  papers,  there  is  teach- 
ing going  on  in  the  new  universities  which  fits  a  man  to  pass 
on  these  papers  quite  as  well  as  the  teaching  of  Oxford  or 
Cambridge. 

You  would  not  say,  then,  that  the  examination  papers  give 
a  special  advantage  to  those  who  have  an  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge degree? — Certainly  not.  I  will  make  this  qualification, 
that  I  think  if  you  take  the  Scotch  universities,  where  lately 
Latin  and  Greek  have  gone,  I  will  not  say  in  the  background, 
but  are  not  so  prominent  as  they  were,  the  Latin  and  Greek 
papers  here  would  be  more  easy  for  somebody  who  has  got 
the  very  fine  teaching  in  Latin  and  Greek  which  is  given  at 
Oxford  or  Cambridge;  but  that  is  altering  itself,  too.  In  the 
new  universities  there  is  very  fine  training  on  the  arts  side 
growing  up,  which  ought  to  make  candidates  quite  as  capable 
of  taking  that  examination.  .  .  .^ 

After  a  good  deal  of  observation,  both  while  I  was  at  the 
bar  and  while  I  was  in  charge  of  an  administrative  depart- 
ment, I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  as  a  general  rule  the 
most  stimulating  and  useful  preparation  for  the  general  work 
of  the  higher  civil  service  is  a  literary  training,  and  that  of 
this  a  classical  education  is  for  most  men  the  best  form,  though 
not  exclusively  so.  No  doubt,  men  vary,  and  science  or  mod- 
ern literature  may  develop  the  mind,  in  the  case  of  those  who 
have  aptitude  for  them,  better  than  Latin  or  Greek  literature. 
But,  as  Goethe  said  long  ago,  the  object  of  education  ought  to 

1  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  see  questions  1764- 
1765- 


228  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [228 

be  rather  to  form  tastes  than  simply  to  communicate  knowl- 
edge. The  pedant  is  not  of  much  use  in  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs.  For  the  formation  of  tastes  and  of  the  intellectual 
habits  and  aptitudes  which  the  love  of  learning  produces,  the 
atmosphere  of  a  highly  organized  university  life  is  a  tre- 
mendous power,  and  we  cannot  do  without  it.  And,  there- 
fore, while  I  am  not  without  sympathy  with  the  complaint  of 
democracy  that  the  entrance  to  the  higher  positions  in  the 
Civil  Service  is  by  far  too  much  the  monopoly  of  a  class,  I 
reply  that  a  highly  educated  clerk  is  essential  for  a  particular 
kind  of  work  which  the  State  needs.  .  .  .^ 

The  best  products  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  are  the  best 
products,  so  far  as  education  goes,  in  this  country.  The  ideal 
kind  of  training  for  the  Bar  I  used  to  think  was  an  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  training,  and  on  the  whole  by  preference,  though 
not  by  any  means  exclusively,  a  classical  training.  I  say  that, 
not  being  a  classical  scholar  in  the  proper  sense  myself,  but  as 
the  result  of  observation,  I  should  have  said  that  the  very 
best  training  for  the  Bar  was  a  really  high  training  of  scholar- 
ship at  Oxford  or  Cambridge.  .  .  .^ 

...  By  what  means  would  that  superior  education  be 
best  attained? — If  I  were  dealing  with  an  ideal  system  it 
would  be  this :  I  never  was  myself  at  either  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge. I  was  brought  up  under  the  influence  of  German  uni- 
versities, and  I  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  at  the  University  of 
Edinburgh.  I  was  Ferguson  Scholar  of  four  Scotch  univer- 
sities, so  that  the  universities  I  know  best  are  the  German  uni- 
versities and  the  Scotch  universities.  At  the  same  time  I  have 
had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  par- 
ticularly Oxford.  I  have  had  relatives  who  have  been  pro- 
fessors there ;  and  I  have  lived  there  a  great  deal,  and  been  an 
examiner  there,  and  have  received  honorary  degrees  from  both 
Oxford  and  Cambridge ;  so  that  I  know  them  pretty  well. 

'  From  a  speech  by  Lord  Haldane  at  Bristol,  quoted  by  the  New 
York  Evening  Post. 

'  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission ;  cf.  questions  1668- 
1671. 


229]  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  229 

But  the  ideal  system  of  university  education  would  to  my 
mind,  if  it  were  possible,  be  what  I  have  been  familiar  with 
in  Scotland.  There,  the  son  of  a  working  man,  thanks  to  the 
old  rooted  system  of  elementary  education  and  the  much  more 
complete  system  of  secondary  education  than  exists  in  Eng- 
land, has  a  chance  of  rising  from  the  ranks  through  the  sec- 
ondary school,  or  through  the  extension  of  the  primary  school 
that  we  have  there,  to  the  university.  There  are  scholarships 
and  bursaries,  as  they  are  very  often  called,  by  means  of 
which  he  gets  to  the  university.  I  have  sat  side  by  side  in  class 
rooms  with  the  son  of  a  ploughman,  and  a  very  clever  fellow 
very  often  he  was  in  many  cases.  I  have  also  seen  the  son 
of  a  ploughman  rise  up  and  get  a  university  degree,  and  come 
back  to  be  doing  manual  labour  because  he  was  at  any  rate 
not  a  sufficiently  clever  fellow  to  make  full  use  of  his  oppor- 
tunities. I  have  known  men  who  have  been  at  the  university 
working  at  manual  work  in  Scotland;  they  come  back  to  the 
circumstances  out  of  which  they  rose.  If  you  could  have  that 
system  developed  very  much  you  would  get  the  perfect  system. 
You  would  get  an  equal  opportunity  for  everybody,  which"  I 
think  is  the  real  foundation  of  democracy.  You  would  get 
the  son  of  the  workman  with  his  chance,  if  he  had  it  in  him, 
to  get  the  highest  university  training,  and  to  go  into  any  of  the 
professions  or  become  one  of  the  highest  division  clerks ;  you 
would  get  the  breaking  down  of  the  distinction  between  classes 
in  many  cases.  I  need  not  say  that  we  are  very  far  from  that 
in  England  at  the  present  time ;  but  we  are  improving.  In  the 
last  14  years  ten  new  teaching  universities  have  been  organized 
in  England  and  Ireland ;  the  four  Scotch  ones  remain  as  they 
were;  the  Welsh  University  I  am  not  taking  into  account — it 
was  there  before.  You  have  got  these  ten  new  universities, 
and  you  have  Oxford  and  Cambridge  doing  their  work  and 
making  great  changes,  and  I  think  these  new  universities  will 
presently  begin  to  pour  out  the  class  of  highly-educated  per- 
sons you  want  to  get.  and  to  pour  them  out  with  more  access 
from  what  I  may  call  the  poorer  stratum  of  the  community. 
Until  that  comes  I  think,  in  the  interests  of  the  State,  which 


230  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [230 

must  prevail  over  the  interests  of  any  class,  however  great,  if 
we  are  to  get  the  most  efficient  type  of  Civil  servant  for  the 
highest  work  in  the  Civil  Service,  we  must  look  to  such  uni- 
versities as  there  are,  and  no  doubt  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
where  the  training  in  some  respects  is  very  admirable,  to  sup- 
ply us  with  a  very  good  stream  of  them.  I  may  say  that  I 
have  had  large  experience  at  the  Bar,  as  well  as  six  years'  ex- 
perience of  the  War  Department,  and  there  I  saw  men  com- 
peting side  by  side.  The  Bar  is  a  very  democratic  place ;  all 
sorts  of  people  come  np  there  and  fight  side  by  side — men  of 
natural  capacity  wiio  rise  very  high ;  but  there,  too,  I  saw  the 
barrister  handicapped  if  he  had  not  come  through  the  mill  of 
a  really  high  type  of  univeristy  education  first.  In  the  main 
the  people  who  come  to  the  top  and  make  the  finest  lawyers, 
the  finest  men  of  the  world,  and  the  finest  managers  of  men, 
were  the  highly-educated  men ;  but  there  again,  also,  excep- 
tional men,  with  a  touch  of  something  like  genius  in  their  in- 
dividuality, made  up  for  it  and  rivalled  and  even  beat  them.^ 

...  I  was  suggesting  whether  it  would  be  possible  for  the 
State,  as  one  way  of  recruiting  the  service  of  the  State,  to  get 
a  certain  number  of  men  in  at  a  somewhat  later  age  and  by 
post-graduate  work? — I  would  like  very  much  to  get  men 
who  could  write  a  thesis,  say,  for  some  of  the  very  difficult 
work  that  there  is  at  the  Treasury,  for  instance ;  and  the  com- 
ment which  occurs  to  me  to  make  upon  what  you  say  is  that 
there  come  into  the  Civil  Service  through  Class  I.  a  certain 
number  of  men  who  really  do  pursue  privately  post-graduate 
work  and  could  produce  your  thesis,  and  they  do.  I  know,  for 
instance,  first-rate  economists  who  have  become  such  in  the 
Treasury,  and  I  think  you  know  some  too,  who  have  become 
so  by  their  Civil  Service  work,  and  I  doubt  whether  you  could 
get  better  than  that  if  you  took  a  man  at  a  later  age  on  a 
thesis.  That  there  are  such  men  I  do  not  doubt,  and  these  are 
just  the  class  of  men  T  want  still  to  retain  the  power  to  bring 
into  the  Civil  Service  under  section  4  of  the  Superannuation 
Act,  for  instance.  ... 

1  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  cf.  question   1660. 


231]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  23 1 

But  you  know  the  reason,  of  course,  why  boys  leave  the 
secondary  school  at  15  or  16  instead  of  continuing  two  or  three 
years  longer ;  that  in  almost  every  case  it  is  the  poverty  of  the 
parents. — But  in  these  days  there  are  a  good  many  scholar- 
ships (and  there  ought  to  be  a  great  many  more),  and  if  the 
misfortune  of  the  poverty  of  the  parent  is  the  reason,  and 
they  ought  to  get  sufficient  education  to  qualify  them  for  the 
service  of  the  State,  then,  I  say,  the  interests  of  the  State  must 
preponderate  over  the  interest  of  a  class.  But  my  reform  would 
be  to  do  everything  to  remove  the  disability  and  difficulty  of  a 
class  while  preserving  the  standard  of  the  State.  .  .  .^ 

I  take  it,  it  is  your  view  that  we  cannot  devise  a  thoroughly 
democratic  system  of  entering  into  the  Civil  Service  until  we 
have  very  much  widened  the  education  ladder  F^That  is  ex- 
actly my  view,  and  I  should  like  to  join  hands  with  you,  Mr. 
Snowden,  to-morrow,  in  saying  that  the  great  mode  of  access 
to  a  democratic  system  in  this  country  was  to  put  other  things 
aside  and  to  deal  with  the  education  system  from  its  founda- 
tion. 

The  opinion  of  the  permanent  head  of  the  Colonial  Office, 
Sir  John  Anderson,  G.  C.  M.  G.,  about  division  I  is  sum- 
marized in  the  following  quotations : 

I  gather  on  the  whole  you  are  satisfied  with  the  first  division 
men? — That  is  so. 

Have  you  any  suggestions  as  to  the  method  of  recruiting 
them.  Can  you  see  any  better  system  than  the  competitive 
system  at  present  in  force? — Certainly  not.  I  am  entirely 
satisfied.  If  there  was  an  attempt  to  recruit  by  any  other  sys- 
tem we  should  certainly  get  men  who  were  not  on  the  whole 
equal  to  the  men  we  get  by  open  competition.  .  .  . 

Are  we  to  assume  from  that  that  all  the  higher  division  men 
are  of  high  capacity  and  of  a  high  level  of  intelligence,  ability, 

^  Appendix,   Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  cf.  question   1708, 
1777- 


232  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [232 

and  attainment? — I  should  say  with  regard  to  our  existing 
staff  that  is  so. 

Are  there  no  failures  amongst  the  higher  division  men? — 
No. 

None  ? — I  have  not  known  any  in  my  office. 

You  must,  within  the  last  30  years  you  have  been  in  the 
public  service,  have  known  a  great  many  higher  division  men 
from  one  department  or  another.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  us  that 
you  have  never  known  one  who  was  a  failure  as  regards  effi- 
ciency?— I  would  not  say  that;  we  have  been  very  fortunate 
in  our  office.  We  have  not  had  one  whom  I  could  describe  as 
a  failure.  We  have  had  men  of  greater  ability  than  others  un- 
doubtedly, but  the  general  average  is  distinctly  high. 

(Bishop  of  Southzvark.)  Was  my  impression  correct,  after 
my  visit  to  the  Colonial  Office,  that  a  good  deal  of  the  work 
which  a  first  class  clerk  of  junior  standing  does  when  he  first 
comes  into  the  office  is  very  much  of  the  same  character  as  is 
done  by  staff  officers? — Staff  officers  attached  to  the  General 
Department  immediately  under  the  chief  clerk. 

It  is  the  same  sort  of  work? — It  is  regarded  as  less  respon- 
sible, really. 

That  is  to  say,  when  they  first  come  into  the  office  as  first 
class  clerks  and  are  of  quite  junior  standing,  they  are  doing 
very  much  the  same  sort  of  work  as  the  staff  officers? — That 
is  so. 

The  staff  officer  is  a  man  who  has  had  long  experience  of 
the  routine  of  the  office. — Yes. 

These  new  men  would  have  had  no  experience  at  all? — No. 

Do  they  do  it  as  well? — After  the  first  two  or  three  months 
I  should  think  they  do  it  as  well,  if  not  a  little  better. 

That  is  to  say  there  is  something  about  them  either  of 
natural  ability,  or  due  to  their  previous  training,  which  en- 
ables them  to  do  in  three  months  what  another  man  has  taken 
20  years  to  learn? — Of  course  they  have  had  very  different 
training,  but  there  is  no  doubt  they  have  a  wider  outlook. 
The  training  of  a  second  division  clerk  and  his  social  oppor- 
tunities are  naturally  restricted,  and,  of  course,  that  is  bound 
to  affect  his  outlook. 


233]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  233 

The  power  of  getting  a  grasp  of  what  they  have  to  do  is  the 
sort  of  capacity  which  you  think  best  fits  a  man  for  the  respon- 
sible work  he  will  ultimately  have  to  do  in  the  first  class? — 
That  is  so.  .  .  . 

Then  why  do  you  consider  that  certain  second  division  men 
are  fit  to  be  promoted  to  posts  carrying  a  salary  of  500/.  a 
year,  but  are  not  fit  to  be  promoted  into  the  first  division  with 
perhaps  300/.  or  400/.  a  year,  seeing  that  you  have  already  ad- 
mitted that  the  salary  is  fixed  according  to  the  importance  of 
the  work  that  has  to  be  done? — The  work  to  which  the  staff 
officer  promoted  from  the  lower  division  is  put  is  work  which 
requires  certain  experience,  and  he  has  to  exercise  certain 
supervision  probably  over  men  junior  to  himself.  In  respect 
to  that  he  is  entitled  to  be  paid  more.  The  higher  division 
clerk,  as  soon  as  he  comes  in,  is  set  to  work  which  really 
comes  to  this,  that  he  is  advising  the  Secretary  of  State  on 
matters  of  public  business  that  come  into  the  office. 

Is  a  young  man  of  23  who  comes  fresh  from  the  university, 
who  has  never  had  any  work  to  do,  and  no  business  experi- 
ence whatever,  competent  at  once  to  advise  the  Secretary  of 
State  on  matters  of-  policy? — He  is  allowed  to  try.  .  .  . 

But  your  general  impression  would  be  that  as  long  as  the 
education  suitable  to  a  first  class  intellect  had  been  of  a  high 
and  stimulating  character,  it  does  not  matter  very  much  what 
the  education  is? — It  does  not  matter  whether  it  has  been  sci- 
ence, classics,  or  mathematics. 

And  that  it  is  better  for  a  man  up  to  22  or  23  years  of  age 
to  have  had  that  kind  of  training  rather  than  a  technical  train- 
ing in  the  details  of  the  office? — Undoubtedly.^ 

Mr.  Harris  of  the  War  Office  emphasizes  another  famil- 
iar distinction  between  division  I  and  division  II,  a  distinc- 
tion of  course  well  illustrated  in  the  training  of  araiy 
officers. 

*  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  138. 


234  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [234 

I  think  that  Class  I.  requires  absolutely  different  qualifica- 
tions from  those  to  be  normally  found  in  Class  II.  There  are 
two  ways  always  of  regarding  a  particular  grade  in  the  Ser- 
vice ;  one  is  to  look  at  it  from  below  as  the  reward  of  faithful 
service  in  the  lower  ranks,  and  the  other  is  to  look  at  it  from 
above  as  a  recruiting  ground  for  the  next  and  higher  grades, 
and,  although  from  the  second  division,  as  it  stands  to-day, 
you  would  by  selection  get  a  considerable  number  of  officers 
who  were  competent  to  fill  the  lower  grades  in  the  higher  divi- 
sion, I  do  not  think  you  would  get  heads  of  departments  of 
the  necessary  quality  by  further  selection  from  those  lower 
grades.^ 

A  high  official  of  the  Inland  Revenue  agrees  with  the 
second  division  men  that  they  have  not  enough  opportunity 
for  promotion : 

But  may  I  express  your  view  in  this  way:  Although  you 
consider  that  the  first  division  is  necessary  to  furnish  you  with 
what  I  may  call  a  corps  d'clite  in  the  service,  yet  it  may  be 
most  usefully  supplemented  by  promotion  from  the  second 
division? — Yes,  by  exceptional  merit. 

And  you  yourself  are  acquainted  with  particular  instances 
in  which  such  promotion  has  been  justified? — Speaking  off- 
hand, I  remember  four  promotions  being  made ;  there  may  be 
others,  but  I  remember  four. 

Then  I  want  to  ask  you  whether  from  your  experience  you 
think  these  promotions  are  sufficiently  numerous. — That  is 
rather  a  matter  for  the  head  of  the  department,  knowing  his 
department  and  acquainted  with  it. 

I  want  your  own  opinion.  You  have  had  a  large  experi- 
ence of  the  service,  and  I  am  asking  your  own  opinion  whether 
you  consider  that  these  promotions  have  been  made  sufficiently 
frequently  ? — On  the  whole  I  should  think  scarcely  sufficiently ; 

1  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  343. 


235]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  235 

and  that   was   the    feeling   which    actuated   me   at   Somerset 
House.  ^ 

It  is  very  interesting  to  note  that  Sir  Thomas  H.  Elliott, 
who  himself  rose  from  boy  clerk  to  head  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture,  is  most  decided  in  his  demand  for  higher 
scholarly  attainments  than  the  second  division  examinations 
insure.  In  his  department  there  is  no  first  division,  but  a 
large  and  miscellaneous  class  of  inspectors  and  assistant  in- 
spectors with  qualifications  very  much  like  those  of  the  first 
division,"  staff  officers  and  second  division  men.  Sir 
1  homas  demands  advanced  study  before  a  second  division 
man  may  be  promoted. 

Then  on  the  second  sheet  of  that  same  document  there  is 
this  paragraph :  "  Strong  objection  to  any  arrangement  which 
would  exclude  men  who  go  to  universities  and  take  good  de- 
grees there.  Board's  organisation  does  not  do  this."  Does 
that  refer  to  your  outdoor  stafif  particularly  ? — No ;  I  am 
speaking  there  mainly  with  reference  to  the  question  of  the 
promotion  of  second  division  men  to  the  higher  clerical  staff. 
I  have  a  very  strong  feeling  that  the  entrance  examination  for 
the  second  division  is  not  in  itself  a  sufficient  test  of  fitness 
for  the  higher  posts,  and  I  should  be  very  sorry  indeed  to  see 
any  arrangement  made  which  would  not  give  the  public  ser- 
vice a  certain  number  of  the  best  men  of  their  year  at  the  uni- 
versities. .  .  . 

I  suppose  from  what  you  have  told  us,  and  especially  from 
your  memorandum  of  February,  1895,  we  may  take  it  that  you 
think  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  the  work  of  an  office  so  graded 
that  in  different  ways  it  invites  the  men  of  the  junior  staff  to 

'  Appendix,  First  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  cf.  questions  906-909. 

'  Sir  Thomas  insists  upon  special  examinations  of  a  division  I  stand- 
ard because  he  wishes  to  lay  emphasis  on  certain  special  subjects, 
such  as  law,  political  economy,  and  English  composition,  and  because 
through  nomination  he  has  a  personal  choice. 


236  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [236 

qualify  themselves  for  higher  appointments.  There  is  no  such 
thing  in  your  office  as  a  hard  and  fast  distinction  of  kinds  of 
work,  but  there  is  a  sort  of  gradation  that  invites  a  man  from 
one  stage  to  another?— I  think  there  is  a  natural  and  proper 
distribution  of  work  between  the  higher  and  the  lower  posts, 
but  I  also  feel  very  strongly  that  the  men  who  come  into  what 
is  at  present  known  as  the  second  division  ought  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  rising  above  that  grade,  and  I  tried  in  that 
memorandum  of  February,  1895,  to  indicate  in  what  way  they 
could  rise  above  their  grade.  I  stated  in  that  memorandum 
that  the  important  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  connection  with 
these  higher  posts  is  that  mere  length  of  service,  however 
blameless,  and  the  possession  of  the  attainments  indicated  by 
success  at  the  second  division  or  lower  examination  were  in- 
sufficient qualifications  for  the  discharge  of  the  higher  work 
of  the  office.  Then  I  endeavoured  to  show,  in  the  case  of  the 
different  branches,  in  what  way  men  could  qualify  themselves 
for  that  higher  work.  .  .  .  ^ 

You  made  a  statement  in  your  memorandum  of  1895  which 
seems  to  me  to  be  sligthly  inconsistent  with  the  opinions  you 
have  expressed  here  to-day.  On  the  last  page  of  the  memor- 
andum you  say :  "  The  important  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  in 
connection  with  these  upper  staff  posts  is  that  mere  length 
of  service,  however  blameless,  and  the  possession  of  attain- 
ments indicated  by  success  at  a  second  division  or  lower  ex- 
amination, are  insufficient  qualifications  for  the  discharge  of 
the  higher  work  of  the  office."  Would  you  think  that  the  edu- 
cational qualifications  of  a  second  division  clerk,  coupled  with 
experience  in  the  office  and  fairly  good  natural  ability,  are 
sufficient  qualifications  for  the  discharge  of  the  higher  work 
of  the  office? — No,  I  do  not,  speaking  generally.  It  is  that 
view  which,  of  course,  underlies  the  whole  of  that  memoran- 
dum. I  think  that  a  man  who  has  done  the  same  routine  work 
for  a  considerable  number  of  years  and  has  not  shown  much 
power  of  initiative,  organisation,  or  imagination  in  regard  to 

'  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  227. 


237]  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  237 

the  saving  of  labour,  cannot  with  any  advantage  be  placed  in 
higher  places.  I  may  perhaps  put  it  in  this  way,  that  the  maxi- 
mum salary  in  the  second  division  is  300/.  a  year,  and  there 
are  many  men  who  are  worth  200/.  to  300/.  a  year  who  never 
become  worth  more  than  that. 

{Chairman.)  What  about  the  exceptional  men? — They 
show  qualities  which  enable  them  to  be  put  in  higher  positions, 
but  one  has  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  those  qualities.  They  are 
to  be  attained  sometimes  by  education,  sometimes  by  special 
training,  and  sometimes  by  a  sort  of  natural  power  of  acqui- 
sition. .  .  .^ 

{Chairman.)  One  question  of  a  general  character  I  would 
like  to  ask  you.  You  know  the  Civil  Service  from  the  top  to 
the  bottom,  and  have  had  experience  of  all  classes  recruited 
into  the  Civil  Service? — That  is  so. 

What  is  your  appreciation  of  the  average  men  recruited  by 
the  Class  I.  examination  and  men  recruited  into  the  second 
division  ?  Do  you  think  there  is  a  very  marked  difference  be- 
tween the  mental  calibre  or  mental  powers  in  the  two  types  of 
men? — Speaking  of  classes  I  should  say,  yes. 

Have  you  known  many  men  in  the  second  division  equal 
to  the  Class  I.  type? — The  difficulty  is  to  speak  generally  and 
without  regard  to  the  many  exceptions  which  occur.  I  have 
known  men  who  have  entered  the  service  as  copyists  who 
have  become  distinguished  Civil  servants.  I  may  mention,  for 
instance,  a  gentleman  who  is  now  representing  this  country  in 
the  Turkish  Customs  Service — Sir  Richard  Crawford.  He 
was  a  copyist  when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Board  of 
Agriculture,  but  became  head  of  the  Intelligence  Branch  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture.  He  then  became  Commissioner  of 
Customs,  he  is  now  a  high  officer  in  the  Turkish  Customs  Ser- 
vice ;  and  he  has  quite  recently  received  the  K.  C.  M.  G.  I 
mentioned  him  as  a  type  of  the  one  class.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  has  known  Class  I.  men  of  whose  abilities  one  has  had  a 
very  poor  impression.     Speaking  in  classes,   I   should  say  I 

1  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  230. 


238  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [238 

should  prefer  to  have  the  man  who  has  had  a  longer  and  more 
extensive  education  than  a  man  who,  unfortunately,  very  often 
from  no  fault  of  his  own,  has  had  a  less  extensive  education. 
And  it  must  be  remembered  also  that  in  these  days  the  univer- 
sities are  really  very  democratic  institutions.  A  young  man  in 
the  class  from  which  the  second  division  is  recruited  has  ample 
opportunities,  and  very  often  utilises  his  opportunities,  of 
going  up  to  the  universities  and  coming  into  Class  I.  It  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  Class  I.  does  not  include  many  men  of  the 
same  social  grade  as  the  men  in  Class  II. 

I  make  no  reference  whatever  to  social  divisions,  I  merely 
wish  to  learn  your  opinion  as  regards  the  type  of  men  pro- 
duced by  a  university  education,  which  gives  you  the  great 
majority  of  the  Class  I.  men.  I  have  put  to  you  the  question 
with  this  object.  I  ask  you  whether  you  have  known  in  the 
second  division  men  who  were  much  better  than  their  fellows 
and  deserving  of  promotion,  and  I  want  to  find  out  from  you 
whether  you  think  the  opportunities  now  available,  or  the 
methods  of  administration  are  such  as  to  bring  these  excep- 
tional men  out  of  Class  II.,  and  whether  they  have  at  present 
a  sufficient  opportunity  of  making  their  way  up  to  the  higher 
class? — I  think  it  would  be  improper  for  me  to  express  any 
opinion  except  with  regard  to  my  own  department. 

I  am  asking  your  opinion  as  an  experienced  and  distin- 
guished Civil  servant  who  has  passed  through  all  the  grades, 
and  I  think  we  are  entitled  to  ask  you  that  opinion. — I  can 
only  say  that,  as  regards  my  own  department,  I  have  made 
every  possible  efifort  to  familiarise  myself  with  the  second  di- 
vision men  who  showed  any  capacity  at  all,  and  to  give  them 
every  opportunity  of  remedying  the  deficiencies  which,  from 
no  fault  of  their  own,  they  have  suflFered.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  one  has  to  admit  that  the  men  coming  into  the  second 
division  do  suffer  from  a  certain  deficiency  as  regards  educa- 
tion. They  have  not  had  the  long  and  extensive  education  at  a 
period  of  their  life  when  they  can  probably  put  it  to  the  best 
account.  It  must  be  much  more  difficult  in  a  large  depart- 
ment  to   give  opportimities   to   the   second   division   men  to 


239]  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  239 

emerge  from  their  rank.  I  do  not  know  what  could  be  done 
in  order  to  improve  those  opportunities.  In  comparatively 
small  departments  like  mine  I  think  it  is  comparatively  easy; 
but  where  you  have  large  blocks  of  second  division  men  it 
must  be  very  much  more  difficult.^ 

The  permanent  head  of  the  Admiralty  was  questioned 
as  to  the  claims  of  the  second  division  clerks  in  their  me- 
morial. 

(Mr.  Shipley.)  Would  you  agree  with  the  statement  in  the 
document  which  has  been  put  in  on  behalf  of  the  staff  clerks, 
on  page  2,  in  the  paragraph  headed  "  No  distinction  between 
so-called  administrative  and  clerical  work,"  that  men  who  were 
formerly  staff  clerks  and  second  division  clerks  are  now 
merged  with  men  who  were  formerly  first  division  clerks? — 
No,  I  should  not  agree  with  that  statement. 

You  do  not  think  that  the  further  statement  is  true  "  that 
first  division,  staff,  and  second  division  clerks  divide  the  work 
indifferently  between  them"? — No.  except  as  qualified  by 
what  I  have  said  in  answer  to  a  previous  question,  that  the 
younger  higher  division  clerks  must  learn  the  business  of  the 
department,  and  they  must  necessarily,  therefore,  for  a  time, 
at  any  rate,  be  doing  a  certain  amount  of  work  which  would  be 
being  done  also,  perhaps,  by  second  division  clerks.  .  .  . 

I  suppose  I  need  hardly  ask  you  whether  you  agree  with 
the  general  conclusion  of  this  paper  [a  memorial  of  the  Ad- 
miralty second  division  clerks],  namely,  that  there  is  no  ade- 
quate reason  why  you  should  have,  putting  it  in  a  word,  any 
higher  division  men? — Speaking  quite  deliberately,  it  would, 
in  my  opinion,  be  a  serious  blow  to  the  administration  of  the 
Admiralty  if  the  services  of  men  of  the  highest  educational 
qualifications  were  debarred. 

(Mr.  Boutwood.)  I  have  only  one  other  question  to  put  to 
you,  which   is   really   suggested  by  what  happened   when  I 

1  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Commission,  p.  234. 


240  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [240 

visited  the  Admiralty  with  other  Commissioners.  What  hap- 
pened was  this :  We  saw  in  succession  two  men.  One  was  a 
clerk  who  had  entered  by  the  Class  I.  examination,  and  the 
other  was  a  clerk  who  had  become  a  Class  I.  man  by  promotion 
from  the  second  division;  we  saw  them  within  the  same  five 
minutes,  and  my  own  mind  received  a  very  definite  impres- 
sion, and  I  will  tell  you  what  that  impression  was :  that  if  any 
sudden  emergency  or  any  emergency  arose  which  called  for 
prompt  action,  or  initiative,  or  entailed  new  responsibility,  or 
anything  of  that  kind,  you  might  have  got  some  help  from  the 
Class  I.  man ;  you  certainly  would  not  have  got  any  help  from 
the  promoted  man.  I  want  to  ask  you  what  is  your  impression 
of  the  promoted  men,  the  men  who  have  been  promoted  from 
the  second  division  in  the  Admiralty — whether  you  think  that 
impression  of  mine  is  simply  individual,  or  would  you  think  it 
could  be  generalised  at  all? — It  would  be  a  little  difficult  to 
answer  that  question  without  having  in  one's  mind  certain  par- 
ticular cases ;  but  undoubtedly  the  Admiralty  have  not  found 
among  the  men  so  promoted  quite  the  same  capacity — I  will 
put  it  in  that  way — to  respond  to  all  conditions  and  to  the 
higher  responsibilities  that  devolve  upon  them  later,  as  among 
the  class  of  men  who  come  in  at  a  later  age  after  a  university 
education.^ 

Let  us  see  what  the  permanent  head  of  the  Admiralty, 
the  department  in  which  the  intermediate  scheme  origi- 
nated, has  to  say  about  the  need  of  such  a  division  and  the 
possibility  of  getting  this  work  done  by  second  division 
clerks. 

Then  the  comparison  will  be  between  the  selected  men  of  the 
second  division,  and  the  men  who  came  in  by  the  intermediate 
examination.  Is  there  a  great  difference  between  these  two 
classes  of  men  ? — A  great  difference,  no ;  but  there  is  a  differ- 

'  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commission.    Cf.  questions  'i.(>2>2^, 
16364,  16408-9. 


241]  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  '  24I 

ence,  and  the  difference,  speaking  generally,  is  in  favour  of 
the  candidate  who  enters  by  the  intermediate  examination.  .  . 
{Chairman.)  That  is  not  my  point.  My  point  is  whether, 
by  selection  from  the  second  division  you  can  get  men  who 
are  equal  to  those  whom  you  get  into  the  Service  by  the  inter- 
mediate examination.  Selection  is  very  important  if  you  have 
a  large  area  from  which  to  select.  I  want  to  know  whether 
you  can  select  from  that  large  area  of  second  division  men 
clerks  of  the  same  capacity  as  those  you  get  by  the  intermediate 
examination? — Certainly  not  in  the  area  of  second  division 
clerks  actually  serving  at  the  Admiralty.^ 

It  is  unnecessary  to  quote  more.  The  evidence  given 
shows  that  university  education  and  experience  are  needed 
in  the  civil  service  of  Great  Britain.  It  shows  that  the  in- 
termediate type  of  clerks  is  needed  in  some  offices.  It 
shows  that,  while  there  ought  to  be  more  promotion  from 
the  second  division,  more  encouragement  given  to  second 
division  men  to  pursue  advanced  studies,  and  more  oppor- 
tunities for  intellectual  work  in  the  offices,  the  leading  con- 
tentions of  the  second  division  clerks,  to  say  nothing  of 
those  of  the  assistant  clerks,  are  not  substantiated. 

With  due  regard  to  the  evidence,  the  present  Royal 
Commission  can  hardly  come  to  other  conclusions  than 
these : 

(i)  That  there  is  not  enough  promotion  from  division  II 
to  division  I ;  that  the  rule  requiring  eight  years'  service  in 
the  second  division  before  promotion  be  abolished,  or  a 
shorter  term  substituted;  that  more  stafT  appointments  be 
set  aside  for  division  II ;  that  more  opportunity  be  given  to 
division  II  to  do  intellectual  or  original  work  instead  of 
mechanical  work. 

*  Appendix,  Third  Report  of  Royal  Commision.    Cf.  questions  16,480, 
16,491. 


242  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN         .[242 

(2)  That  the  examinations  for  division  I  be  modified  so 
as  to  attract  more  men  from  the  new  universities. 

(3)  That  the  intermediate  scheme  be  restricted  to  offices 
in  which  the  difference  in  education  between  men  so  re- 
cruited and  the  second  division  represents  a  real  asset  and 
need,  and  that  second  division  men  be  in  some  cases  pro- 
moted and  transferred  to  intermediate  division  offices. 

(4)  That  the  Treasury  or  department  heads  make  an 
effort  to  recognize  and  reward  second  division  men  who 
employ  their  leisure  to  become  bachelors  of  science,  bar- 
risters, etc.^ 

(5)  (Already  mentioned  above.)  That  only  such  boy 
clerks  be  employed  as  can  probably  be  absorbed  into  the 
assistant  clerk  class,  and  that  these  be  required,  as  in  the 
Post  Office,  to  attend  educational  classes. 

(6)  That  the  pay  of  assistant  clerks  be  raised  to  a  living 
wage. 

(7)  Above  all,  that  free  education  from  primary  schools 
through  the  universities  in  liberal  arts  or  science  be  insured 
to  every  ambitious  and  deserving  pupil ;  that  the  civil  ser- 
vice examinations  for  such  positions  as  boy  clerkships  and 
second  division  clerkships  be  arranged  in  conformity  with 
primary  and  secondary  education  standards,  so  as  to  en- 
courage and  stimulate  effort  in  the  free  schools.^ 

1  "  For  the  Estate  Duty  Office  the  Treasury  have,  we  understand, 
sanctioned  a  scheme  under  which  advancement  to  £200  per  annum  may 
be  granted,  after  five  years'  service,  to  Officers  of  ability  who  have 
either  been  called  to  the  Bar  or  taken  a  University  degree  in  law." 
The  Civilian. 

^  An  important  contribution  of  the  present  Royal  Commission  to 
civil  service  philosophy,  suggested  by  Mr.  Graham  Wallas  in  cross 
examining  a  witness,  was  this :  Macaulay  and  Trevelyan  were  satisfied 
to  follow  existing  educational  standards  and  choose  the  best  men  un- 
der the  best  existing  conditions,  while  the  present  commission  pro- 
poses to  have  the  civil  service  lead  national  education,  encourage  new 
institutions,  attract  new  types  of  men  and  thought,  and  educate 
those  already  in  the  service  for  higher  duties. 


243]  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  243 

It  seems  probable  that  action  on  these  and  other  pros- 
pective recommendations  of  the  Royal  Commission  will 
come,  as  usual,  from  the  Treasury  by  Orders  in  Council, 
rather  than  from  Parliament  by  statute.  The  Treasury  and 
heads  of  departments  will  probably  make  as  few  changes 
as  possible.  An  attempt  will  certainly  be  made  to  put  most 
of  the  commission's  recommendations  into  effect,  but  in  a 
modified  and  cautious  way.  The  government  cannot  revo- 
lutionize popular  education  in  a  day ;  ^  it  must  choose  the 
best-fitted  men  where  they  are  to  be  found.  It  is  improb- 
able that  the  first  division  examinations  will  be  greatly 
modified,  for  it  is  not  easy  to  attract  many  men  from  the 
new  universities  without  lowering  standards. 

The  writer's  conclusions  on  this  difficult  question  of 
democracy  versus  education  in  the  civil  service  are  these: 

In  a  sense  it  is  a  cruel  thing  to  set  up  class  distinctions — 
even  if  they  be  only  intellectual — in  the  service  of  a  modern 
free  state  founded  upon  equality  of  opportunity.  Because 
a  man  has  been  handicapped  by  obscure  birth,  indigence, 
and  perhaps  uncongenial  early  surroundings,  because  he 
has  not  conceived  early  enough  the  ambition  to  be  well  edu- 
cated or  has  never  had  the  time  or  the  means  for  study  and 

^  '"And  many  of  the  suggestions  made  this  afternoon  would  mean 
the  expenditure  of  5,000,000/.,  10,000,000/.,  or  15,000,000/.  a  year  very 
likely,  or  at  any  rate  a  very  large  amount  of  public  money.  Let  me 
give  you  some  examples  of  the  questions  that  have  been  raised  this 
afternoon :  School  accommodation,  and  the  number  of  children  in  a 
class;  the  question  of  teachers'  salaries;  the  question  of  the  increase 
of  the  scholarship  system ;  or  of  the  accommodation  in  secondary 
schools;  or  the  increase  in  industrial  training.  All  those  questions 
involve  a  very  heavy  expenditure. — They  raise  financial  questions  at 
every  turn,  of  course." 

(Mr.  Wallas,  of  the  commission,  questioning  a  permanent  secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Education.  Appendix,  Second  Report  of  Royal  Com- 
mission, p.  286.) 


244  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [244 

cultivated  leisure,  because,  in  brief,  he  lacks  culture  and  a 
university  degree,  we  place  him  in  a  subordinate  position, 
employ  him  steadily  upon  mechanical  or,  at  any  rate,  unim- 
proving  work,  and  then  announce  with  a  kind  of  mournful 
finality,  that  these  people  really  cannot  be  promoted  to 
higher  tasks. 

But  where  does  our  sympathy  lead  us  ?  Can  the  state  re- 
pair the  defects  of  heredity  or  of  early  education?  Can  it 
endow  the  average  individual  with  the  intelligence,  acute- 
ness  and  cultivation  which  economic  exigencies  have  denied 
him?  Can  the  state  make  an  assistant  clerk  over,  because 
society  has  not  given  him  a  chance?  What  sort  of  an  idea 
of  competition  is  this,  which  decrees  that  the  state,  unlike 
private  business,  must  prepare  every  one  in  its  employ  to  be 
the  head  of  a  department?  In  the  Irishman's  army  were 
none  but  generals.  In  the  coming  socialistic  civil  service 
there  will  be  only  heads  of  departments  and  prospective 
heads.  When  all  educational  and  personal  defects  are 
remedied,  there  will  be  no  need  of  distinctions  of  any  kind. 

The  fact  is  that  in  the  interests  of  every  citizen  the  gov- 
ernment must  be  run  well.  In  the  last  analysis  Pope's  idea 
of  government  is  right — whiche'er  is  best  administered  is 
best.  There  are  all  kinds  of  positions  under  a  government, 
just  as  in  private  life.  There  are  all  kinds  and  classes  of 
people  available  for  government,  as  for  private,  work. 
There  must  be  under  secretaries  and  scavengers.  Mean- 
while, the  state  must  recognize  that  there  are  differences  of 
class  and  education  and  that  the  highest  intelligence  and 
the  soundest  education  must  be  attracted  into  the  civil  ser- 
vice. 

There  is  one  thing  which  the  state  can  and  should  do  to 
vindicate  its  democracy — and,  in  a  sense,  this  is  forestalling 
and  neutralizing  social  and  educational  inequalities.  The 
government  should  see  that  its  schools  educate  for  all  kinds 


245]  ^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  TO-DAY  245 

of  work,  that  ability  and  promise  are  lifted  as  far  as 
possible  above  want  and  social  handicap.  But  finally 
the  government  must  choose  the  best  men  for  posi- 
tions varying  greatly  in  qualifications,  prospects,  pay  and 
dignity.  There  should  be  no  social  bar  to  promotion  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest  place — but  let  us  not  fool  our- 
selves. When  we  have  made  every  possible  provision  for 
the  encouragement  of  early  promise,  when  we  have  pre- 
pared every  child  as  far  as  possible  for  its  suitable  vocation, 
the  subordinate  employees  of  the  government  or  of  private 
enterprise  who  are  fit  to  rise  above  the  ranks  will  be  few 
and  far  between.  No  doubt  in  the  coming  socialistic  state 
all  work  will  be  of  equal  dignity,  and  no  man  will  object  to 
his  appointed  task.  For  the  present  we  must  recognize  and 
be  prepared  to  find  men  who  are  ambitious  and  dissatisfied, 
and  for  whom  the  state  can  do  nothing ;  and  we  can  extend 
only  our  sympathy  to  the  stenographer  or  clerk  of  long 
standing  who  sees  himself  subordinated  to  recent  university 
graduates,  and  feels  that  he  has  suffered  the  last  indignity. 


CHAPTER  IX 

English  Experience  and  the  United  States 

"  The  fact  is  that  Americans  have  ignored  .  .  .  the  differ- 
ences of  capacity  between  man  and  man.  They  underrate  the 
difficulties  of  government  and  overrate  the  capacity  of  the 
man  of  common  sense." — Bryce,  American  Commonwealth. 


The  early  history  of  American  civil  service  reform  has 
been  dramatically  told  in  a  dozen  books  and  in  hundreds  of 
speeches.  The  reform  movement,  coming  as  it  did  from 
Qtjtside  the  administration  and  Congress,  necessarily  re- 
ceived its  original  impetus  from  books  and  gained  in  mo- 
mentum through  publicity  and  educated  public  opinion 
alone.  The  history  of  American  reform  is  chequered  and 
spasmodic.^  The  course  of  English  reform  is  remarkably 
steady  and  uneventful.  With  the  exception  of  the  reactionary 
scepticism  of  the  Playfair  report,  English  reform  has  the 

1  See  Bibliography  of  Civil  Service  Reform,  published  by  the  National 
Civil  Service  Reform  Association,  1907 ;  Congressional  Report,  39 
Congress,  2nd  Session,  Jan.  3.  1867.  Hon.  T.  A.  Jenckes;  Carl  Russell 
Fish,  Tlie  Civil  Service  and  the  Patronage,  Harvard  Historical  Studies, 
vol.  xi,  (New  York,  1905)  ;  Fifteenth  Rep.  of  the  U.  S.  Civil  Service 
Commission ;  E.  B.  K.  Fultz,  The  Federal  Civil  Service  as  a  Career, 
(New  York,  1909)  ;  Parton's  Life  of  Jackson. 

For  an  excellent  short  account  of  the  encroachment  of  civil  service 
reform  upon  patronage  in  the  United  States,  see  Ostrogorski, 
Democracy  and  the  Organisation  of  Political  Parties  (New  York, 
1902),  volume  2,  pp.  484-499.  The  early  efforts  of  Jenckes,  Schurz,  G. 
W.  Curtis,  and  Eaton,  and  the  derision  they  excited,  are  briefly  and 
graphically  portrayed.  The  important  extensions  of  the  classified  civil 
service  since  President  McKinley's  death,  followed,  of  course,  the  ap- 
pearance of  Mr.  Ostrogorski's  book. 

246  [246 


247]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  247 

appearance  of  a  force  moving  irresistibly  forward  and  driv- 
ing patronage  and  incompetence  before  it.     But  reform  in 
the  United   States  has  moved   forward  slowly  and   pain- 
fully; frequently  it  has  stopped  entirely,  and  at  times  it  has 
actually  been  driven  back.     In  the  first  decade  of  reform 
Congress  simply  withheld  the  appropriation   for  the  ten- 
tative civil  service  advisory  committee;  and  since  the  estal>j 
lishment  of  a  permanent  civil  service  commission,  every 
President  has  had  to  resist  the  pressure  of  spoilsmen  in] 
Congress,  and  of  politicians  outside.     Almost  every  year 
has  seen  riders  to  appropriation  bills  providing  exemption 
from  the  classified  civil  service,  promotion  of  temporary 
patronage  appointees,  transfers  which  violate  the  letter  or 
spirit  of  the  civil  service  law,  illegal  participation  of  civil 
servants  in  elections  and  enforced  contributions  to  party 
funds,  four-year  tenure  laws,  dismissals  for  political  rea- 
sons, appointments  through  senatorial  "  courtesy  "  and  a 
dozen  other  forms  of  patronage  and  retrogression.     Not  a ; 
single  administration  at  Washington  since  the  Act  of  1883, 
has  an  absolutely  clean  reform  record ;  and  in  most  caseS' 
this  is  no  fault  of  the  President  and  the  cabinet.^ 

The  conditions  in  the  services  of  England  and  the  United 
States  at  the  beginning  of  reform  were  astonishingly  simi- 
lar. From  the  writings  and  speeches  of  Mr.  Jenckes  and 
Mr.  Eaton,  we  can  see  that  the  problems  of  the  unre formed 
departments  at  Washington  in  the  sixties  and  seventies  were 
those  of  the  English  public  offices  before  1853.  There  are 
whole  passages  descriptive  of  the  personnel  and  demoraliza- 
tion of  Washington  departments,  which  might  be  attributed 
to  writers  in  the  English  1853  report  without  changing  a 

*  President  McKinley,  however,  has  the  unenviable  record  of  sur- 
rendering to  the  spoilsmen  thousands  of  positions  in  the  classified 
service.  This  was  done  by  executive  order,  not  by  act  of  Congress 
passed  over  the  President's  veto. 


248  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [248 

single  word/  Mr.  Sumner's  speeches  in  Congress  might 
have  been  made  by  Mr.  Gladstone;  Mr.  Chadwick's  catalog 
of  incompetents  might  have  been  framed  by  Mr.  Jenckes  of 
Rhode  Island.^    There  were,  of  course,  peculiar  American 

'  Compare  the  remark  of  Robert  Low,  Viscount  Sherbrooke:  "  Under 
the  former  system  there  was  never  such  a  thing  known  as  a  man  being 
appointed  because  he  was  supposed  to  be  fit  for  the  place,"  with  that 
of  the  American,  Parton,  in  his  Life  of  Jackson:  "In  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1859,  the  fact  of  a  man's  holding  office  under  the  govern- 
ment is  presumptive  evidence  that  he  is  one  of  three  characters — an 
adventurer,  an  incompetent  person,  or  a  scoundrel." 

*  Compare  with  the  descriptions  by  Chadwick  and  others  in  Chapter 
I.  PP-  4-5,  this  picture  from  the  Jenckes  report,  of  the  United  States 
Customs  House  in  1868  (anon.). 

"  The  revenue  department  of  this  government  has  been  most  shame- 
fully maltreated,  and  by  all  political  parties,  as  they  have  successively 
come  into  power.  Its  various  institutions,  instead  of  subserving  the 
public  interests  as  they  should,  have  been  converted  into  hospitals, 
alms-houses,  political  fortresses,  and  places  of  refuge,  (if  not 
refuse.)  Instead  of  capable  officers,  honest,  respectable  and  faithful 
brawling  politicians,  broken-down  hacks,  and  imbecile  persons  have 
filled  the  places,  through  favoritism,  nepotism,  or  corruption  of  some 
kind.  The  government  has  lavished  its  funds,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  having  its  business  faithfully  transacted  it  has  appropriated  an 
ample  amount  for  that  object;  but  intrigue  and  favoritism  have  al- 
most neutralized  its  legitimate  and  intended  eflfects  in  several  ways. 
Incompetent  and  inefficient  men  are  foisted  in ;  they  constitute  the 
corps  of  loafers,  whose  time  hangs  idle  on  their  hands,  and  who 
are  continually  hovering  about  the  industrious,  and  are  serious  ob- 
stacles to  these.  By  means  of  personal  influence,  and  plenty  of 
time  to  wield  it,  they  generally  secure  the  fattest,  salaries,  especially 
at  a  season  when  salaries  are  raised.  Dishonest  persons  are  another 
corps,  embezzlers,  peculators,  corrupt  or  venal ;  these  insinuate  them- 
selves into  all  branches  as  furtively  as  Ulysses  managed  to  elude  the 
searching  hands  of  Polyphemus.  Intemperate  people  also  use  the 
public  fund,  not  for  their  families,  but  to  distress  and  tantalize  them. 
Partisans  steeped  in  the  elixir  of  ignorance  disgrace  the  public  books 
with  their  scrawling  chirography,  their  blundering  arithmetic,  and 
their  dislocated  orthography,  and  their  downright  assassination  of 
grammar.  .  .  .  The  government  appropriates  enough  money  to  pay  for 
the  aggregate  services  rendered  to  it,  but  the  appropriation  is  so  un- 


249]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  249 

vices — such  as  rotation,  senatorial  courtesy,  and  the 
"  spoils  "  system — but  omitting  these,  the  parallel  between 
the  English  and  American  unreformed  services  is  perfect. 

It  was  this  parallel  which  particularly  impressed  Mr. 
Eaton  when  he  studied  the  English  civil  service  and  which 
he  succeeded  in  impressing  upon  his  American  readers. 
The  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  such  an  analogy  were 
obvious :  Patronage  demoralized  the  English  and  Americans- 
governments.  Civil  service  had  purified  the  English  gov- 
ernment. Therefore  let  us  have  civil  service  too  and  as 
much  like  the  English  as  possible. 

Once  the  American  civil  service  law  was  instituted  on 
English  models,  the  analogy  between  the  two  countries  un- 
fortunately stopped.  We  have  been  so  busy  fighting  for  a 
full  realization  of  the  competitive  principle  and  so  busy  pre- 
venting retrogressions,  that  the  great  problems  of  division, 
of  intellectual  qualifications  and  examinations,  of  stimu- 
lating national  education  through  civil  service  examinations 
and  attracting  the  best  men  into  our  government  depart- 
ments, have  been  quite  neglected.   The  English  civil  service. 

equally  and  unjustly  distributed  that  they  who  do  the  most  work  and 
the  best  qualified  get  scanty  salaries,  while  the  .  .  .  ill-qualified  drones 

realize    large    and    altogether    disproportionate    compensation 

Very  few  do  the  work,  and  are  poorly  paid ;  they  work  in  and  out  of 
hours,  closely  and  incessantly." 

Similarly,  it  is  interesting  to  compare  the  views  of  members  of  the 
United  States  Congress  opposed  to  the  Pendleton  Act  with  those  of 
opponents  of  the  Trevelyan-Northcote  scheme  of  1853  (Cf.  Chap.  I.). 

"  Mr.  Horr  said  they  [the  proposed  examinations]  were  all  hum- 
bug, and  that  he  would  prefer  draw-poker  or  tossing  coppers. 
Equally  numerous  were  the  objections  to  the  new  system  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  not  an  American  product— was  monarchial.  Sena- 
tor Brown  expected  that  the  officers  of  the  government  would  be- 
come 'a  praetorian  guard,'  and  Senator  Carpenter  that  they  would 
become  a  fixed  aristocratic  class."  Fish,  The  Civil  Service  and  the 
Patronage,  p.  220. 


250  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [250 

once  fairly  started  on  the  straight  path  of  reform,  has  had 
little  need  of  mere  reformers.  In  fact,  we  can  no  longer 
speak  of  civil  service  reform  in  England.  This  is  the  era  of 
scientific  development  and  experiment  in  the  English  civil 
service.  The  artificial  barriers  and  obstacles  of  patronage, 
graft,  rotation,  and  sectional  jealousies  are  not  present  to 
hinder  a  natural  development  and  expansion. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  United  States  civil  service  will 
soon  have  passed  from  the  "  reform  "  stage,  in  which  all 
honest  men  in  and  out  of  Congress  and  the  cabinet  must 
devote  their  time  to  the  diseases  of  patronage  and  rotation, 
to  the  stage  of  healthy  and  normal  development.  Mean- 
while, there  are  a  number  of  cures  to  be  effected  and  opera- 
tions to  be  performed. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  provides  (see  Sec- 
tion 2,  Art.  2)  that  the  President  "  shall  nominate,  and  by 
and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  ap- 
point Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls, 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the 
United  States,  whose  Appointments  are  not  herein  other- 
wise provided  for."  The  only  discretion  left  to  Congress 
in  this  matter  is  to  permit  by  statute  the  appointment  of  in- 
ferior officers  by  the  President  alone,  by  the  courts,  or  by 
the  heads  of  departments.  It  is  impossible  to  go  at  length 
into  the  origin  and  subsequent  history  of  this  clause,  a 
disgraceful  history,  which  includes  constant  altercations 
over  senatorial  "  courtesy  ",  removals,  and  four-year  tenure 
laws,  and  culminates  in  the  impeachment  of  President  John- 
son. It  must  suffice  to  say  that  the  clause  originated  in  fear 
of  presidential  tyranny  and  official  oligarchy,  and  that  its 
history  has  shown  that  corruption  of  appointments  has  been 
largely  the  work  of  the  Senate  and  of  Congress  as  a  whole. 
Students  of  civil  service  in  the  United  States  agree  that 
the  Senate  and  House  should  waive  their  patronage ;  that  all 


2^1]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  25 1 

positions,  high  and  low,  excepting  those  which  have  to  do 
with  matters  of  party  poHcy,  should  be  classified  under  civil 
service  rules ;  and  that  the  phrase  "  by  and  with  the  consent 
of  the  Senate,"  should  subject  high  political  appointments 
to  senatorial  scrutiny,  to  prevent  jobbery  not  to  encourage 
it.  In  order  to  attract  good  men  into  the  civil  service  the 
higher  positions  must  be  open  to  them.  At  present  every 
change  of  administration  involving  a  change  of  party  sees 
a  wholesale  removal  of  higher  exempt  officials  and  local 
ofifice-holders,  resulting  in  chaos  in  the  departments,  politi- 
cal machinations  in  Congress,  pernicious  political  activity 
of  ofifice-holders  at  elections,  and  loss  in  money,  time,  effi- 
ciency, and  prestige.  Almost  all  local  offices  and  high  de- 
partmental officials,  excepting  cabinet  members  and  first 
assistant  secretaries,  should  be  recruited  from  the  perma- 
nent civil  service,  and  enjoy  permanent  tenure  on  good  be- 
havior. Almost  all  of  the  existing  10,000  presidential  ap- 
pointments should  be  in  the  classified  service. 

But  extensions  of  the  classified  service  are  very  difficult. 
They  inevitably  give  the  party  out  of  power  the  impression 
that  the  President  is  guarding  his  appointees  against  pos- 
sible dismissal  in  the  future  by  giving  them  life  jobs.  Thus 
President  Taft's  order  classifying  some  36,000  fourth  class 
postmasters,  the  majority  of  them  Republicans,  enraged  the 
Democrats,  who  tried  to  persuade  President  Wilson  on  his 
election  to  rescind  the  order  and  "  turn  the  rascals  out." 
President  Wilson  fortunately  refused,  holding  that  Mr. 
Taft's  motives  were  honest  and  that  a  beginning  had  to  be 
made  somewhere. 

At  present  some  295,000  out  of  391,000  federal  em- 
ployees are  in  the  classified  list.  Of  the  remaining  96,000 
there  are : 


252  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [252 

10,000  Presidential  appointees. 
3,500  Census  employees. 
13.000  Unclassified  Post  Office  clerks. 
20,000  Unskilled  laborers. 

21,000  Excepted  from  examination  under  Schedule  A  or 
subject  to  non-competitive  examinations  only.^ 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  more  open  competition  in  the 
United  States  than  in  Great  Britain,  but  the  exemptions  are 
less  logical  and  competition  in  the  United  States  is,  as  we 
shall  see,  rather  illusory.  If  President  Wilson  realizes  the 
plans  of  his  university  days  and  the  promises  of  his  party, 
the  civil  service  classification  will  be  extended  to  high  de- 
partmental  officials,  to  diplomatic  agents,  to  the  remaining 
Post  officers,  to  Internal  Revenue  officers.  Customs  officers, 
United  States  marshals,  and  other  exempted  officials — but 
Congress  is  very  tenacious  of  these  contemptible  remnants 
of  a  once  glorious  plunder.^ 

^  Proceedings  of  National  Civil  Service  Reform  Assn.,  Milwaukee, 
Dec.  5,  1912. 

*  Far  from  showing  signs  of  further  reform,  the  House  has  attempted 
to  prevent  the  prospective  income-tax  collectors  from  being  classified, 
and  has  recently  succeeded,  by  means  of  a  rider  to  an  appropriation 
bill,  in  taking  assistant  revenue  collectors  and  assistant  marshals  out 
of  the  classified  list.  President  Wilson  refused  to  veto  this  bill,  but 
promised  that  the  exempted  positions  would  not  be  used  as  political 
spoils.  While  few  will  doubt  the  President's  sincerity,  every  one  must 
recognize  that  so  far  as  concerns  the  authors  and  abettors  of  this 
rider  in  Congress,  the  claim  that  the  exempted  positions  are  con- 
fidential, fiduciary,  etc.,  is  a  very  thin  disguise  of  their  real  purpose. 
In  the  Congressional  debates  we  see  them  with  the  mask  off: 

"MR.  JOHNSON  (Democratic  ^Representative  from  Kentucky). 
I  am  one  who  does  not  believe  that  when  we  have  a  Democratic 
President  and  a  Democratic  Congress  that  that  completes  and  makes 
a  Democratic  administration.  I  do  not  believe  we  will  have  or  can 
have  a  Democratic  administration  until  every  office  is  administered 
by  Democrats.  (Applause.)  We  find  the  departments  in  Washing- 
ton,   we    find    the    departments    in    every    part    of   the    United    States, 


2^3]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  253 

It  may  be  said  without  exaggeration  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  real  open  competition  in  the  United  States.  We 
have  only  to  consider  these  facts  in  connection  with  our 
federal  examinations  in  order  to  see  how  many  obstacles 

full  of  Republicans  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Democratic  administra- 
tion ;  and  they  are  asked  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  Democratic 
administration.  (Applause  on  the  Democratic  side.)  They  are  there 
to  make  trouble  for  and  to  betray  a  Democratic  administration. 
(Applause  on  the  Democratic  side.)   .  .  ." 

"MR.  KAHN  (Republican  Representative  from  California).  For 
sixteen  years  you  on  the  Democratic  side  have  been  outside  the  en- 
closure vi^hich  surrounds  the  green  corn.  The  boys  at  home  have 
been  saying  to  you,  '  For  years  and  years  we  have  supported  you  in 
your  candidacy.  We  have  not  had  a  job  heretofore  because  you 
were  in  the  minority.  Now  that  you  are  in  the  majority,  we  demand 
of  you  that  you  give  us  the  jobs."" 

"SEVERAL  MEMBERS  (on  the  Democratic  side).    That  is  right." 
"  MR.  KAHN.     Of  course  that  is  right  from  your  standpoint.     I  am 
glad  you  admit  it ;  but  the  American  people  will  not  stand   for  this 
attack  upon  the  merit  system.     (Laughter  on  the  Democratic  side.) 

You  gentlemen  may  laugh ;  but  your  laughter  will  turn  to  a  sicken- 
ing smile  when  the  American  people  can  be  heard  from  upon  this 
subject.  About  one-third  of  the  appointees  in  the  marshals'  offices 
and  in  the  collector  of  internal  revenue  offices  have  passed  the  civil 
service  examinations  since  the  aegis  of  the  civil  service  laws  and 
regulations  was  thrown  over  the  employees  of  those  offices. 

You  desire  to  break  down  the  system  and  put  your  political  hench- 
men into  the  offices.  You  have  referred  to  the  right  of  the  superior 
officer  to  surround  himself  in  the  confidential  positions  with  men  of 
his  selection.  That  is  pure  hypocrisy.  The  gentleman  from  Penn- 
sylvania (Mr.  Temple)  pointed  out  the  joker  in  this  thing.  The 
last  lines  of  the  sentence  read : 

And  the  officer  requiring  such  bond  shall  have  power  to  revoke  the 
appointment  of  any  subordinate  officer  or  employee  and  to  appoint  his 
successor  at  his  discretion  without  regard  to  the  act,  amendments,  or 
regulations  aforesaid. 

Under  that  provision  the  superior  officer  can  discharge  his  mes- 
senger; he  can  discharge  his  typewriter;  he  can  discharge  everybody 
who  is  in  the  office,  even  to  the  unfortunate  char-woman." 

"SEVERAL  MEMBERS  (on  the  Democratic  side).  That  is  what 
we  want."     (House  of  Representatives,  October   10,   1913.) 


254  -^^^  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [254 

separate  the  ablest  of  available  competitors  from  the  best 
available  position : 

(i)  Apportiomiient,  by  which,  if  his  state  has  received 
its  full  quota  of  appointments,  the  candidate  has  little  or  no^ 
prospect  of  appointment.  There  is  no  open  competition 
under  such  circumstances.  A  man  from  New  Mexico  who 
has  attained  an  average  of  80  per  cent  in  a  competitive  ex- 
amination, may  be  preferred  to  a  New  Yorker  who  has  an 
average  of  85  per  cent,  because,  forsooth,  the  fixed  quota 
from  New  York  cannot  be  exceeded  until  New  Mexico  has 
had  the  requisite  share  in  government  appointments.  It  is 
claimed  that  apportionment  is  a  good  thing,  because  it 
,  draws  to  Washington  citizens  from  all  over  the  country, 
creates  understanding  and  sectional  good  feeling  and  a 
national  atmosphere,  and  eventually  sends  missionaries  of 
national  patriotism  home  to  the  four  corners  of  the  nation. 
This  argument,  especially  when  applied  to  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  civil  service,  is  too  ludicrous  to  merit  an  answer.  No 
doubt  every  section  of  the  country  should  be  represented  in 
the  cabinet,  but  not  necessarily  in  the  permanent  civil  ser- 
vice.   Let  the  sections  compete. 

(2)  The  practice  of  submitting  to  the  appointing  officer 
the  names  of  three  eligibles  for  each  vacancy.  This  would 
be  called  limited  competition  in  England. 

(3)  The  low  standards  of  examinations  for  all  but  tech- 
nical and  legal  positions,  which  give  the  candidate  no  oppor- 
tunity to  display  a  sound  education  such  as  is  given  in  our 
high  schools.  The  government  service  need  not  appoint  any 
one  above  the  sub-clerical  service  who  has  not  a  public  high- 
school  education  or  its  equivalent. 

(4)  The  practice  of  preferring  disabled  veterans,  soldiers 
and  sailors,  for  all  civil  positions  ^  and  limiting  the  number 
of  members  of  the  same  family  to  two. 

'  A  striking  example  of  this  kind  of  false  sentiment,  in  the  case  of 


255]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  255 

(5)  The  absence  of  any  information  on  the  part  of  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  concerning  the  number  of  prob- 
able vacancies,  and  the  existence  of  a  waiting  list.  The 
Civil  Service  Commission  should  always  have  a  more  or  less 
accurate  idea  of  the  number  of  places  to  be  vacant. 

(6)  Bidding  for  salaries — the  practice  by  which  a  candi- 
date indicates  the  lowest  salary  he  is  willing  to  accept.  If 
the  candidate  puts  his  bid  at  the  legal  minimum,  he  may  be 
appointed  and  get  much  less  than  he  deserves;  if  he  bids 
higher,  he  may  be  postponed  to  others  or  may  not  receive 
any  appointment  at  all.  Entrance  salaries  and  prospects  of 
annual  increments  should  be  as  uniform  as  possible  through- 
out the  various  divisions  of  the  service.^ 

When  we  consider  these  facts  along  with  the  poor  pay 
and  limited  possibilities  of  promotion,  since,  excepting  a 
few  technical  and  legal  positions,  no  man  can  hope  to  rise 
above  $3,000,  we  can  readily  see  why  we  have  no  true  open 
competition  and  why  the  good  men  we  attract  by  accident 
soon  resign  to  get  a  fairer  reward  in  private  enterprise." 

an  appointive  officer,  was  that  of  General  Black,  until  recently  head  of 
the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission.  General  Black  is  a 
veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Commission  out 
of  sympathy  and  a  desire  to  supplement  his  pension.  He  was  never 
capable  of  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office  and  was  removed  by 
President  Wilson.  In  a  congressional  debate  not  long  before  his 
removal,  it  was  said  that  General  Black,  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sioner, was  drawing  a  pension  for  complete  mental  and  physical  dis- 
ability, and  earned  it. 

'  Manual  of  Examinations,  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission, 
spring  of  1913. 

'  The  President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency,  >vhich  has 
recently  com.pleted  its  labors,  has  recommended  changes  in  organiza- 
tion, personnel,  and  conduct  of  business,  including  an  annual  budget, 
standardization,  etc.,  which  should  greatly  facilitate  the  work  of  the 
national  departments  and  reduce  waste  of  money  and  time  and  lack  of 
coordination  to  a  minimum.  The  work  of  this  commission  was  much 
like  that  of  the  English  Efficiency  and  Economy  Commission  of  1873. 


256  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [256 

While  the  pressing  problems  of  patronage  are  being 
solved,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  President  Wilson  will  begin  to 

A  detailed  consideration  of  this  subject  is  not  within  the  scope  of 
this  essay.  There  are  certain  recommendations  of  Mr.  Taft's  com- 
mission which  are  of  striking  interest : 

(i)  The  commission  recommended  some  kind  of  a  permanent  co- 
ordinating, harmonizing  and  supervising  body— a  Bureau  of  Central 
Administration— like  the  Efficiency  Commission  itself  or  the  EngHsh 
Treasury. 

(2)  The  commission  flatly  repudiated  the  system  of  apportionment 
of  candidates  for  civil  service  positions. 

(3)  The  commission  recommended  that  all  the  higher  appointments 
in  the  government,  including  at  least  one  assistant  secretary  and  all 
heads  of  bureaus  to  which  appointments  are  made  by  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  Senate,  except  those  positions  which  have  to  do  with 
the  determination  of  policy,  such  as  cabinet  officers  and  first  secre- 
taries, be  made  by  the  President  alone  and  placed  in  the  competitive 
classified  service.  The  commission  recommended  that  competitive 
examination  standards  be  fixed  for  these  higher  positions,  and  from 
this  fact  it  may  be  gathered  that  not  mere  promotion  from  the  clerk 
class,  but  some  kind  of  a  first  division,  university  class  was  to  be  at- 
tracted into  the  clerical  civil  service.  Similarly,  the  commission  rec- 
ommended that  the  local  patronage  offices  in  the  Customs,  Revenue, 
etc.,  mentioned  above,  be  classified. 

(4)  The  commission  recommended  a  pension  system — contributory 
pensions,  not  straight  pensions  as  under  the  old  English  statute  of 
1859.  The  question  of  the  comparative  merits  of  the  English  and 
other  pension  schemes  is  very  involved.  The  commission  published  a 
lengthy  study  of  pensions  in  the  English  civil  service  and  made  this 
study,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  basis  of  their  report.  American  stu- 
dents of  the  pension  problem  are  almost  unanimously  agreed  that  the 
system  of  contributory  pensions  paid  out  of  an  interest-accumulating, 
separate  fund,  on  an  unsentimental  business  basis,  is  more  logical,  is 
cheaper,  and  removes  the  motives  for  keeping  the  incompetent  and 
decrepit  in  the  service.  There  is  one  very  important  consideration 
which  these  American  advocates  of  contributory  pensions  do  not 
weigh  properly — that  unless  salaries  are  raised  all  round  their  plan  is 
worthless.  Employees  will  hardly  welcome  the  plan  of  annual  sub- 
tractions from  a  bare  living  wage,  in  order  to  get  the  deductions  re- 
turned with  interest  when  they  are  old  or  disgusted.  The  subject  of 
pensions  in  the  United  States  is  closely  bound  up  with  that  of  fair 
salaries.     See  p.  174,  supra. 


2cn'\  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  257 

improve  the  personnel  and  efficiency  of  the  service  by  rais- 
ing educational  standards  and  salaries,  and  making  a  definite 
appeal  to  men  of  the  highest  college  and  university  training 
and  to  those  specially  prepared,  to  choose  the  civil  service  as 
a  career.  Technical  and  scientific  positions  are  already  at- 
tracting very  able  men  to  examinations  which  are  annually 
becoming  more  adequate  and  searching;  but  there  is  still  a 
feeling  current  that  for  untechnical  departmental  positions,^ 
academic  qualifications  and  sound  university  education  are 
not  requisite.^  that  anybody  is  good  enough  to  be  a  clerk, 

^  An  attempt  is  made  to  get  college  men  for  the  Philippine  Service 
as  assistants  in  the  departments,  oflficers  of  the  Philippine  Con- 
stabulary, etc.  This  has  been  a  success,  though  there  are  not  many 
applicants. 

-  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  has  urged  a  first  division  examination 
on  English  models,  followed,  however,  after  two  years  by  a  practical 
examination  like  those  in  the  German  services : 

"  To  meet  this  situation  we  think  it  would  be  well  to  adopt,  in  part, 
the  plan  which  has  worked  so  successfully  in  England  of  dividing  the 
service  into  a  higher  and  lower  grade  and  placing  the  higher  ad- 
ministrative positions  now  unclassified  in  the  United  States  service 
in  the  upper  grade.  There  would  be  but  few  positions  in  the  upper 
grade  and  these  would  be  mostly  confined  to  the  departments  in 
Washington;  for  positions  outside  of  Washington,  now  unclassified, 
such  as  postmasters  and  collectors  (with  the  possible  exception  of 
those  in  the  largest  cities)  could  be  satisfactorily  filled  by  promotion. 
But  within  the  Washington  departments  are  a  number  of  high  grade 
positions  such  as  chiefs  of  bureaus  and  the  lower  assistant  secretaries 
which  demand  a  high  degree  of  executive  ability  and  frequently 
special  training. 

For  the  filling  of  these  positions  in  the  upper  grade  we  recommend 
the  holding  of  high  grade  educational  examinations  on  a  par  with 
university  examinations,  open  alike  to  persons  in  the  service  in  line 
for  promotion,  not  over  40  years  of  age,  and  to  persons  not  con- 
nected with  the  service,  not  over  25  years  of  age.  The  examination 
should  be  an  open  competition  held  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 
Those  standing  highest  in  such  examinations  should  be  appointed  to 
service  as  apprentices  in  the  department  in  positions  as  assistants  to 
chiefs  of  divisions,  bureau  chiefs,  and  assistant  secretaries,  and  during 
the   two   years    following   their    appointment    they    should   be    subject 


258  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [258 

and  that  amongst  so  many  clerks  there  are  sure  to  be  enough 
exceptional  ones  to  fill  the  higher  places.  No  one  at  Wash- 
ington seems  to  have  thought  of  the  possible  stimulating  and 
standardizing  effects  of  large  competitions  of  college  and 
university  men  upon  national  education,  effects  very  obvious 
in  England.  There  are  many  positions,  not  only  at  Wash- 
ington but  also  in  state  and  municipal  governments,  w^orthy 
the  pursuit  of  our  best  educated  young  men,  and  if  the  gov- 
ernment would  but  hold  out  opportunities  of  adequate  pay 
and  promotion,  it  could  attract  the  very  elite  into  our  civil 
services. 

The  United  States  Patent  Office  is  an  excellent  example, 
both  of  the  advisability  of  attracting  highly  educated  men 
into  the  service,  and  of  the  folly  of  driving  them  out  by  low 
pay  and  poor  prospects. 

Owing  to  the  better  salaries  offered  by  commercial  con- 
cerns, the  Patent  Office  has  sometimes  had  difficulty  in  getting 
competent  men  to  take  the  civil  service  examination.     It  has 

to  frequent  transfer  so  that  they  may  become  thoroughly  familiar 
with  department  methods  in  different  branches.  After  a  two  years' 
apprenticeship  they  should  be  subject  to  a  further  examination  deal- 
ing with  departmental  methods  of  administration  and  as  a  result  of 
this  examination  should  be  promoted  as  vacancies  occur  to  positions 
of  chiefs  of  division  and  higher  positions,  or  else  dropped  from  the 
service. 

If  these  examinations  for  entrance  to  the  upper  service  are  held 
annually  they  will  continually  provide  for  the  infusion  of  new  blood 
at  the  needed  points,  and  will  serve  as  a  constant  incentive  to  men 
who  entered  the  service  at  the  lower  grades  to  seek  a  broader  education 
with  the  chance  of  aspiring  to  the  most  responsible  and  highest  paid 
non-political  positions  in  the  United  States  government." 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Charles  W.  Eliot. 

(Promotions  in  the  Civil  Service,  Report  of  Special  Committee  of 
the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  Association,  published  by  the 
National  Civil  Service  Reform  League,  New  York,   191 1,  pp.   16,   17.) 


2cq]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  259 

been  necessary  then  to  make  temporary  appointments,  select- 
ing such  material  as  could  be  found  and  made  use  of.  About 
the  time  that  these  men  were  trained,  the  temporary  appoint- 
ments have  come  to  an  end  and  the  men  had  to  be  dropped. 
The  Patent  Ofifice  would  have  little  chance  at  all  to  obtain 
good  examiners  were  it  not  successful  in  picking  up  young 
men  immediately  after  their  graduation  from  college.  These 
are  usually  men  of  fine  ability,  but  without  practical  experi- 
ence of  any  kind,  who,  while  hesitating  which  unknown  road 
to  take,  are  attracted  by  the  definite  proposals  of  the  Patent 
Office.  Able  to  pass  the  difficult  examinations  set  for  them 
by  the  Civil  Service  Commission  and  not  yet  tempted  by  oft'ers 
of  more  lucrative  work,  they  enter  the  service.  Perceiving 
that  there  is  little  hope  of  rapid  promotion  or  ultimate  re- 
ward commensurate  with  their  worth,  they  resign  in  three  or 
four  years  after  having  acquired  the  experience  which  is  the 
one  thing  they  have  thus  far  lacked.  Many  of  those  who 
enter  the  examining  corps  of  the  Patent  Office  are  young  men 
of  splendid  attainments  and  represent  the  best  product  of  our 
American  universities.  Since  the  increase  of  the  entrance 
salary  in  1908  less  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  securing 
the  necessary  number  of  eligibles,  but  the  number  of  assist- 
ants who  resign  after  three  or  four  years  of  service  has 
steadily  continued  because  of  the  slowness  of  promotions.  The 
following  quotation  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Patents  for  the  year  1907  is  interesting  in  this  con- 
nection : 

"  The  examiners  are  all  graduates  of  colleges,  mostly  poly- 
technic colleges,  and  90  per  cent  have  been  graduated  in  gen- 
eral and  patent  law,  and  with  office  experience  are  invaluable 
to  the  service ;  but  after  about  three  years'  experience  in  this 
office  and  when  they  are  fully  experienced  and  valuable  in  the 
work  thereof  they  are  also  fully  equipped  to  go  out,  and  do 
go  out,  to  accept  positions  that  pay  all  the  way  from  $2,000  a 
year  up.  The  office  has  become  merely  a  post-graduate  school 
for  the  technical  and  legal  education  of  young  college  men  who 
enter  the  service.    The  General  Electric  Co.  has  in  its  patent 


26o  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [260 

department  12  or  more  men  who  were  formerly  examiners  in 
this  office,  and  other  corporations  have  taken  hundreds  from 
this  office,  and  this  company  also,  like  many  others,  takes  men 
from  the  graduating  classes  of  polytechnic  colleges  at  higher 
salaries  than  are  provided  on  entrance  to  this  office,  so  that  we 
are  now  competing  with  outside  institutions  for  men  to  do  the 
technical  work  of  the  office.  One  hundred  and  thirty-five  ex- 
aminers out  of  a  corps  of  300  have  resigned  in  a  period  of  less 
than  five  years."  ^ 

Many  problems  of  our  state  and  city  civil  service  cannot 
be  treated  here.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  are  still  a  num- 
ber of  states  and  a  majority  of  cities  without  any  or  without 
adequate  civil  service  laws.^  In  some  cases  civil  service  laws 
have  been  declared  unconstitutional ;  and  in  others  they 
have  been  rendered  inoperative  by  refusal  of  appropria- 
tions. The  same  patronage  and  exemption  problems  exist 
in  states  and  cities  as  in  the  national  government,  and  there 
are  far  too  many  officials  elected  by  the  people  who  ought 
to  be  appointed  by  the  executive  or  classified  in  the  civil 
service.  In  the  next  pages  it  is  possible  only  to  indicate  that 
higher  educational  standards  and  experiments  are  as  essen- 
tial in  states  and  cities  as  in  the  national  government,  and 
that  foreign  experience  is  equally  instructive  in  these  fields 
of  American  government. 

In  the  United  States,  as  in  England,  we  are  creating  new 
departments  of  government  activity — part  of  the  social- 
altruistic  trend  of  the  times  toward  paternalism  and  state 
socialism.   These  new  departments  must  have  leaders  and  a 

^  From  Report  of  the  Investigation  of  the  United  States  Patent 
Office,  1912,  p.  116. 

*  The  English  local  civil  services  are  comparatively  undeveloped. 
The  influence  of  the  central  civil  service  of  the  Kingdom  on  local 
public  offices  has  been  astonishingly  small.  See  Wallas,  Human  Nature 
in  Politics,  pp.  256,  257. 


26i]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  261 

personnel  with  new  and  peculiar  duties,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  with  peculiar  qualifications.  We  have  built  the 
Panama  Canal  and  staffed  it  temporarily  with  conspicuous 
success.  We  shall  need  a  permanent  service  of  commercial 
experts  and  clerks  to  deal  with  the  enormous  problems  of 
world  trade  and  shipping  to  which  the  Canal  has  given  rise. 
In  state  governments  we  are  planning  great  insurance  de- 
partments against  accident,  disease,  old  age,  unemployment, 
minimum  wage,  etc.  In  these  new  departments  we  need 
new  men  and  we  have  the  possibility  of  making  new  and 
important  experiments  in  civil  service  recruitment.  In  Eng- 
land the  labor  exchanges  and  the  new  Insurance  Commis- 
sion for  National  Health  adopted  new  methods  of  recruit- 
ing their  staffs.  Similarly,  we  may  well  make  our  initial 
choices  from  three  sources,  from  the  existing  civil  service, 
the  experienced  expert  outside  the  service,  and  from  the 
educated  youth  just  graduated  from  schools  and  universi- 
ties. We  might  well  demand  of  all  superior  officers  a  col- 
lege education,  including  economics  and  politics. 

Supposing  that  a  great  state  workmen's  compensation  act 
is  passed  setting  up  a  compulsory  or  voluntary'  state  insur- 
ance system  by  employers  against  accidents  or  illness  of 
employees.  The  staff  of  such  a  department  would  undoubt- 
edly consist  of  four  general  groups:  (i)  stenographers, 
bookkeepers,  and  minor  office  assistants:  (2)  clerks  of  good 
education  for  routine  work;  (3)  a  higher  class  of  inspectors 
and  clerks  to  do  the  more  difficult  field,  directing,  and  intel- 
lectual work;  (4)  executives  and  technical  experts.  The 
third  class  might  well  be  recruited  by  an  examination  of 
university  standing  like  the  Indian  civil  service  examina- 
tion, excepting  that  economic  subjects  should  be  compul- 
sory. Graduate  students  in  political  science  and  economics 
would  be  available,  and  the  recommendations  of  professors 
as  to  the  real  promise  and  probable  usefulness  of  a  candi- 


262  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [262 

date  might  be  demanded.  The  stimulus  to  university  edu- 
cation would  be  enormous/  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
many  young  B.  A/s  and  graduate  students  would  prefer 
such  state  service  to  an  academic  or  business  career.  They 
are  young,  cultivated,  enthusiastic.  They  can  be  quickly 
taught  the  work  of  an  office.  They  have  neither  the  arro- 
gance and  conceit  of  the  young  Prussian  official,  nor  the 
aloofness  of  the  English  university-bred  civilian. 

Certainly  it  is  worth  while  to  find  out  whether,  after  all, 
any  prolonged  practical  training  for  administrative  posi- 
tions is  essential  or  even  desirable.  Shall  we  profit  by  the 
experience  of  England  in  this  respect,  or  choose  our  models 
in  Germany,  where  technical  or  practical  knowledge  goes 
hand  in  hand  with  a  general  education  almost  unattainable 
in  the  United  States  ?  Perhaps  we  may  be  able  to  combine 
the  best  points  of  English  and  German  methods  without  a 
stupid  eclectic  compromise.  In  our  new  city  departments — 
which  grow  up  with  municipal  home  rule,  municipal  owner- 
ship and  general  city  growth — we  must  have  higher  educa- 

^  The  success  of  western  state  universities  in  making  themselves 
the  very  center  of  the  administrative  and  political  life  of  the  state  is 
being  watched  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States  with  growing  ad- 
miration. Legislators  and  executives  go  to  the  seminars  of  the  uni- 
versity for  suggestions,  and  professors  and  students  use  the  govern- 
ment departments  as  their  laboratories.  Theory  and  practice  go  hand 
in  hand,  and  government  and  university  cooperate  cordially  in  the 
service  of  the  state.  Such  a  system  cannot  but  produce  an  admir- 
able corps  d'elite  in  the  civil  service,  which  will  represent  the  state 
universities  and  the  new  citizenship.  But  whether  this  can  be  imi- 
tated elsewhere,  for  instance  in  states  like  New  York  where  business 
is  vastly  more  complex,  where  there  are  racial,  economic  and  socio- 
logical problems  unknown  in  smaller  communities  of  an  equable, 
homogeneous,  German  caste — that  is  a  question  which  must  almost 
certainly  be  answered  in  the  negative.  The  "  Wisconsin  idea "  is 
admirable;  but  it  is  no  panacea  for  the  misgovernment  prevalent  else- 
where. • 


263]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  263 

tional  standards.'  At  present  it  is  found  that  cramming 
schools  can  supply  quickly  and  cheaply  to  any  glib  pupil  the 
amount  of  "practical  knowledge" — be  it  of  stenography 
or  factory  laws — necessary  to  get  on  the  eligible  list." 

'  For  higher  positions  in  municipal  governments,  something  like  a 
combination  of  English  and  German  methods  appears  in  the  new 
American  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  and  Training  School  for 
Public  Service.  The  field  work  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Muni- 
cipal Research  presents  an  ideal  way  of  giving  practical  instruction 
to  selected  candidates.  Though  at  present  a  privately  endowed  in- 
stitution, such  a  school  might  be  financed  by  the  city  and  state  and  its 
fellows  be  chosen  from  amongst  university  and  graduate  school  stu- 
dents by  open  competition.  Probably  this  is  the  system  of  the  future 
in  American  cities;  but  it  applies  only  to  the  upper  positions  in  the 
tivil  service. 

There  are  several  dangers  which  these  private  bureaus  of  municipal 
research  must  successfully  contend  with  before  they  can  take  their 
place  as  a  salutary  arm  of  our  municipal  government.  Members  of 
such  boards  and  their  pupils  are  necessarily  busybodies.  They  are 
forever  criticizing  the  work  of  city  officials  and  telling  them  the 
right  way  to  go  about  it.  It  requires  much  tact  to  avoid  the  united 
dislike  and  opposition  of  city  employees,  and  much  self-restraint  to 
avoid  pressing  doctrinaire  theories  of  organization,  methods,  and 
accounts,  which  are  foreign  to  the  practice  of  departments,  uncongenial 
to  the  rank  and  file  or  illogical  to  executive  officers.  The  investiga- 
tors of  the  bureau  of  municipal  research  are  in  constant  danger  of 
being  told  to  go  and  mind  their  own  business. 

For  a  discussion  of  the  qualifications  requisite  in  heads  of  depart- 
ments in  American  municipalities,  and  of  the  comparative  values  of 
various  methods  of  selection,  tenure  and  pay,  see  Munro,  Govern- 
ment of  American  Cities  (New  York,  1912),  P-  237  et  seq.  Pro- 
fessor Munro  has  a  good  chapter  on  civil  service  in  cities,  in  which 
he  touches  on  the  methods  of  constituting  civil  service  commissions 
of  examining,  promoting  and  removing,  and  on  the  objections  to 
civil  service  reform  and  pensions,  (p.  264  et  seq.). 

»  In  the  United  States  we  have  an  incredible  number  of  civil  service 
schools  and  teachers,  manuals  of  instruction,  and  advisory  news- 
papers, which  cram  candidates  for  almost  any  civil  service  position, 
clerical,  scientific,  technical,  or  physical.  They  will  teach  a  man  m 
three  weeks  how  to  pass  the  examination  for  food  inspector,  prepare 
a  fire  chief   for  promotion,  or  stretch   a  police  candidate  who  is  just 


264  ^^^  CIl'IL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [264 

Even  now,  the  success  of  the  bureau  of  municipal  research 
as  a  training  school  marks  unmistakably  the  beginning  of 
a  class  I  system  in  our  services  like  the  English  class  I — a 
division  as  inevitable  as  it  is  salutary.  Such  a  system  is  far 
more  democratic  than  the  one  we  have  in  most  places  now. 
Where  there  are  few  places  and  many  aspirants,  there  must 
be  discrimination  of  some  kind.  We  must  discriminate  at 
the  start  on  the  basis  of  education.  No  doubt  there  should 
be  every  provision  for  promotion  of  outstanding  ability 
from  the  ranks ;  but  such  promotions  would  inevitably  be 
rare,  and  only  a  democratic  perversion  could  make  them  the 
rule  rather  than  the  exception. 

There  is  not  a  profession  in  the  United  States  today 
which  has  not  suffered  from  lack  of  proper  academic  edu- 
cation on  the  part  of  its  practitioners.  There  is  not  a  pro- 
fession which  is  not  steadily  raising  its  demands  in  this 

below  the  required  height.  These  schools  have  a  percentage  of  suc- 
cesses which  is  extraordinary,  if  we  do  not  reflect  upon  the  quality 
of  examinations  which  are  calculated  to  put  a  premium  on  just  such 
hasty  cramming.  Which  is  better,  to  invite  a  mediocre  and  often  ill- 
educated  man  or  woman  into  the  service  because  he  or  she  has  glib 
cram  book  information  about  the  duties  and  laws  of  an  office,  or  to 
put  a  premium  on  general  sound  education  and  let  some  of  the 
technical  information  wait  until  a  period  of  apprenticeship  is  over? 
No  doubt  there  will  always  be  cramming  schools  for  civil  service 
as  well  as  for  universities — as  long  as  there  are  standardized  and 
stereotyped  examinations — but  the  state  should  go  behind  the  crammed 
information  to  the  sound  school  education  of  years.  Can  we  speak 
of  selection  and  merit  when  numbers  of  civil  service  schools  can 
promise  to  get  every  pupil  on  any  eligible  list — and  come  very  near 
to  justifying  the  boast?  If  we  require  technical  or  practical  knowl- 
edge, let  us  see  that  they  are  not  overemphasized  and  that  they  are 
combined  with  the  soundest  general  education  our  schools  have  given. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  future  vocational  public  schools  will  offer 
that  combination  of  technical  and  general  knowledge  which  the  lower 
positions  in  the  civil  service  require.  The  relation  between  our 
schools,  elementary,  high  schools,  and  colleges,  and  the  government 
services,  needs  careful  study. 


255]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  265 

respect.  Almost  every  professional  university  course  is  a 
graduate  course.  The  United  States  is  filling  up;  profes- 
sions  are  overcrowded,  and  their  practice  grows  daily  more 
complex  and  discriminating.  Our  pseudo-legal  ideas  of 
freedom  are  more  and  more  constrained  by  the  exercise  of 
the  police  power.  The  government  touches  us  everywhere; 
and  we  are  extending  the  functions  of  the  government 
every  day.  Unsound  or  haphazard  education  has  always 
been  dangerous ;  it  is  fatal  now,  and  especially  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  government  itself.  Where  the  professions  and 
private  business  demand  so  much,  can  the  government, 
which  is  daily  arrogating  new  functions  to  itself  and  en- 
croaching more  on  the  fields  of  every  private  calling,  de- 
mand less? 

Even  those  who  see  the  need  of  higher  standards  are  con- 
stantly raising  the  bugaboo  of  bureaucracy.  Generally 
these  critics  have  in  their  mind  a  vague  and  disturbing  idea 
of  a  bureaucrat — as  a  stout,  fierce  man  in  a  uniform,  who 
pries  into  your  private  business,  insults  you,  and  threatens 
to  report  you  to  a  fiercer  man  in  a  finer  uniform  who  will 
put  you  to  death.  We  need  hardly  deal  at  length  with  this 
American  tourist  conception  of  Prussian  ofificialism.  What 
Gladstone  said  in  England  is  true  here — under  a  democratic 
government  responsible  to  the  people,  the  extreme  Prussian 
bureaucrat  is  impossible.  But  even  the  Prussian  bureau- 
crat is  preferable  to  many  an  American  state  or  city  official.^ 
Neither  of  them  is  the  servant  of  the  people.  The  differ- 
ence lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Prussian  feels  he  is  respon- 
sible only  to  the  Emperor,  to  whom  he  gives  the  best  that  is 

'  Tn  many  American  cities  and  states  the  civil  service  is  already 
admirably  independent  and  efficient,  e:  g.,  in  the  City  of  Chicago  and 
in  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  In  most  cases,  even  though  there  is  a 
comprehensive  civil  service  law,  the  educational  requirements  or 
standards   of   examination   are  too   low. 


266  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [266 

in  him  of  service  and  loyalty,  while  the  boss-ridden  Amer- 
ican official  is  responsible  only  to  his  patron,  to  whom  he 
gives  not  honest  service  but  profit,  and  whom  he  will  desert 
if  he  gets  a  chance. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  we  are  only  just  begin- 
ning to  experiment  on  civil  service  recruitment.  We  have 
only  just  reached  the  period  in  which  we  can  set  up  a 
standard  of  "  efficiency  and  economy,"  to  use  the  already 
familiar  descriptive  phrase,  without  compromising  with 
patronage  and  graft.  We  shall  have  to  wage  a  final  battle 
with  false  democracy — an  old  ally  of  patronage  and  ineffi- 
ciency— before  we  are  through.  We  shall  have  to  discover 
the  principles  upon  which  our  civil  service  can  be  most 
highly  developed,  and  we  shall  have  to  consider  how  far 
civil  service  recruitment  may  be  made  to  stimulate  public 
education  and  reward  early  promise.  We  must  test  every- 
thing and.  with  due  and  respectful  regard  to  foreign  ex- 
perience, adopt  the  system  that  suits  us  best.  We  must  de- 
cide how  far  open  competiton  can  be  extended  with  suc- 
cess; where  limited  competition  is  better;  and  where  com- 
petition in  any  form  is  undesirable.  We  must  determine 
on  the  basis  of  experiment,  not  of  doctrinaire  theories,  how 
far  we  must  demand  specialized,  practical  training  and  field 
work,  and  how  far  we  may  trust  the  intelligent  and  alert 
college  graduate  of  merely  academic  training  to  acquire  spe- 
cific knowledge  of  his  life  business  in  the  civil  service  itself. 
In  municipal  government  we  shall  need  field  work  and 
training  such  as  the  bureaus  of  municipal  research  are  giv- 
ing now;  in  national  government  offices  this  is  probably 
often  unnecessary  and  sometimes  undesirable.  We  must 
decide  without  political  pressure  and  false  democratic 
theories  how  promotions  in  the  civil  service  are  to  be  made, 
and  how  much  encouragement  we  may  honestly  offer  to 
those  who  expect  to  rise  from  the  ranks  without  the  almost 


267]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  267 

essential  early  education  of  the  university  man.  The  great 
questions  of  salary,  pensions,  and  transfers  must  receive 
careful  attention. 

In  Europe,  titles  and  orders,  and  (in  monarchies)  the 
exaggerated  respect  paid  to  civil  servants  as  the  visible  sym- 
bols of  royal  power,  attract  the  brains  of  these  countries 
into  government  work  in  spite  of  low  salaries.  If  vanity 
and  other  pardonable  human  weaknesses  can  be  capitalized 
at  all,  a  C.B.,  a  knighthood,  a  Herr  Oherregicrungsrath, 
or  a  Geheimer  must  be  capitalized  so  as  to  double  the  exist- 
ing salaries  of  the  title  holder.  We  have,  perhaps  unfor- 
tunately, no  such  gewgaws  here,  and  though  we  may  hope 
that  the  privilege  of  serving  the  government  is  one  to  stimu- 
late the  enthusiasm  and  pride  of  every  young  citizen,  we 
must  pay  our  officials  fair  salaries  or  else  we  shall  not  be 
able  to  compete  with  private  enterprise.  A  list  of  resigna- 
tions from  our  national  civil  service  at  Washington  in  a 
single  year,  representing  the  departure  of  the  best  men  in 
government  offices  to  more  lucrative  private  business  posi- 
tions, will  convince  any  honest  Congressman  of  the  need 
of  a  revision  of  our  scale  of  salaries.  In  1907  there  were 
15,289,  and  in  1908,  11,153  resignations  from  the  United 
States  civil  service.^  We  must  compete  with  the  large  cor- 
porations for  administrative  talent. 

When  we  have  settled  upon  these  practical  principles  of  civil 
service,  we  must  revise  them  every  decade  or  so  to  keep  up 
with  the  times.  A  fixed  code  of  civil  service  regulations  is 
as  dangerous  as  an  unchanging  code  of  law.  We  must 
weigh  the  cases  and  experiences  of  a  decade  and  revise  in- 
telligently. The  cumulative  evidence  of  ten  years  might 
well  be  submitted  to  periodical  commissions  of  investiga- 

*  Promotions  in  the  Civil  Service,  a  pamphlet  published  by  the 
National  Civil  Service  Reform  Association,  191 1. 


268  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [268 

tion,  in  city,  county,  state,  and  national  governments,  as  it 
has  been  in  England,  as  the  basis  for  legislative  action.  And 
meanwhile  we  must  be  alert  to  see  that  patronage  does  not 
creep  back  into  the  services.  We  may  trust  to  the  bureaus 
of  municipal  research,  to  the  civil  service  reform  associa- 
tions, and  to  newspapers  to  watch  every  act  of  Congress, 
state  legislature  and  aldermen  affecting  the  civil  service. 
The  heads  of  the  hydra  of  graft  and  patronage  grow  on 
again. 

Another  danger,  already  felt  in  England  and  always 
threatening  in  France,  is  that  of  organized  unions  of  public 
employees  to  coerce  the  executive  and  influence  the  legis- 
lature for  higher  salaries,  free  promotions,  etc.^     We  must 

'  As  an  example  of  this  danger,  the  author  quotes  from  an  editorial 
in  the  current  issue  of  the  Civil  Service  Chronicle  of  New  York 
(Sept.  20,  1913).  The  editor  threatens  to  hand  over  the  votes  of 
100,000  civil  service  employees  to  Tammany  Hall,  in  case  Mr.  Mitchel, 
the  Fusion  candidate,  will  not  promise  to  raise  salaries  and  oppose 
reductions  in  the  city  forces.  As  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York, 
Mr.  Mitchel  had  incurred  the  enmity  of  many  United  States  civil 
service  employees  on  account  of  reductions  in  numbers  in  the  interests 
of  economy  and  efficiency. 

"  We  have  estimated  that  there  are  100,000  civil  employes  in  New 
York  City  who  can  vote  on  election  day,  which  is,  equal  to  saying 
that  they  can  influence  400,000  votes,  for  each  employe  is  capable  of 
influencing  three  persons — a  father,  son,  brother  or  friend — to  help 
him  in  a  fight  to  better  his  living  conditions. 

That  the  Chronicle's  warnings  are  not  passing  unnoticed  may  be 
seen  from  the  announcement  in  the  New  York  Times  that  the  Fusion 
leaders  are  alarmed  lest  Collector  Mitchel's  proposed  cut  of  424 
Customs  Inspectors  to  200  array  the  civil  service  employes  against 
him.  Even  a  political  manager  so  disdainful  of  employes  as  Fire 
Commissioner  Johnson  made  as  one  of  his  strong  points  against  Col- 
lector Mitchel  last  week  that  the  City  employes  would  not  vote  for  him. 

The  Chronicle  .wishes  it  to  be  understood  that  it  is  not  opposing 
Collector  Mitchel.  but  it  is  simply  warning  him  against  cutting  the 
force  of  Customs  Inspectors  from  424  to  200,  or  attempting  to  throw 
all  the  burden  of  economy  on  employes.  But  on  this  and  on  all  other 
matters  the  Chronicle  will  reserve  decision  until  Mr.  Mitchel  has  had 


25q]  AMERICAN  PROBLEMS  269 

keep  politics  out  of  the  civil  service  at  any  cost.  We  may 
trust  to  growing  intelligence  on  the  part  of  legislatures,  to 
increasing  esprit  dc  corps  and  loyalty  in  the  service  itself, 
to  fair  consideration  of  grievances  on  the  part  of  executives, 
and,  in  the  last  analysis,  to  the  remorseless  exercise  of  the 
executive  power  of  suppression  and  dismissal  to  solve  this 
question. 

We  are  on  the  eve  of  great  changes  in  our  government  at 
Washington.  The  full  significance  of  President  Wilson's 
election  to  the  presidency  and  of  his  success  in  office,  has 
not  yet  been  appreciated.  The  writings  of  President  Wil- 
son's student  days  show  not  only  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  defects  of  our  congressional  government  and  civil  ser- 
vice, but  also  a  keen  realization  of  the  executive  leadership 
necessary  to  remedy  them.     The  ideas  of  a  thesis  '  and  the 

a   fair  opportunity  of   declaring  himself.     Up   to   date  the   Chronicle 
is  neither  for  nor  against  any  candidate. 

Some  of  the  LEANERS  among  the  employes  are  almost  frightened 
at  the  thought  suggested  by  the  Chronkle  that  the  employes  can 
control  the  coming  election.  They  have  so  long  believed  that  em- 
ployes have  no  rights  and  have  so  long  been  servile  that  it  seems 
like  blasphemy  to  suggest  that  they  should  rise  and  go  to  the  polls 
in  a  body  and  vote  for  whomsoever  they  believe  will  be  most  likely 
to  grant  a  few  of  the  things  coming  to  them. 

But  it  was  not  so  very  long  ago  that  there  was  a  combination 
of  civil  employes  in  New  York  that  accomplished  practical  results 
in  an  election.  It  happened  in  1901,  when  the  Police,  the  Firemen  and 
the  Letter  Carriers  combined  to  defeat  Sol.  Blumenthal,  Chairman 
of  the  Cities  Committee  of  the  Assembly,  and  Senator  Webster, 
Chairman  of  the  Cities  Committee  of  the  Senate.  These  gentlemen 
in  a  high-handed  manner  had  refused  to  give  consideration  to  a 
request  for  salary  increases  for  the  Police  and  Firemen,  and  as  the 
Letter  Carriers  wanted  the  support  of  the  Police  and  Firemen  in  a 
Congressional  fight  they  were  interested  in,  the  three  forces  just 
naturally  combined." 

1  See  Woodrow  Wilson,  Congressional  Government,  originally  sub- 
mitted for  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  at  Johns  Hopkins  in  1884. 

In   President   Wilson's   professorial    days   he   already   predicted   the 


270  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  [270 

comparative  studies  of  the  seminar  are  guiding  the  nation 
to-day. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  preface  which  President  Wil- 
son wrote  when  his  Congressional  Government  was  re- 
printed in  1900: 

New  prizes  in  public  service  may  attract  a  new  order  of 
talent.  The  nation  may  get  a  better  civil  service,  because  of 
the  sheer  necessity  we  shall  be  under  of  organizing  a  service 
capable  of  carrying  the  novel  burdens  we  have  shouldered. 

It  may  be,  too,  that  the  new  leadership  of  the  Executive, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  likely  to  last,  will  have  a  very  far-reaching 
effect  upon  our  whole  method  of  government.  It  may  give 
the  heads  of  the  executive  departments  a  new  influence  upon 
the  action  of  Congress.  It  may  bring  about,  as  a  consequence, 
an  integration  which  will  substitute  statesmanship  for  govern- 
ment by  mass  meeting. 

possibility  of  the  scholar  in  politics.  He  pointed  with  pride  to  the 
great  influence  of  Professor  Gneist  on  Prussian  administrative  evolu- 
tion (see  Woodrow  Wilson,  The  State,  Boston,  1895.  p.  278),  and 
looked  forvi^ard  confidently  to  the  day  when  a  more  enlightened 
United  States  would  invite  the  aid  of  students  of  government. 


APPENDIX  A ' 

Order  in  Council  of  ioth  Day  of  January,  1910,  Repeal- 
ing Earlier  Orders,  and  Consolidating  the  Rules  Ap- 
plicable TO  Admission  to  the  Home  Civil  Service  and 
to  the  Conditions  of  Service  Therein 

Whereas  by  several  Orders  in  Council,  dated  respectively 
....  provision  has  been  made  for  testing  according  to  fixed 
rules  the  qualifications  of  persons  who  may  seek  or  be  pro- 
posed for  appointment,  either  permanently  or  temporarily,  to 
situations  or  employment  in  any  of  His  Majesty's  Civil  Estab- 
lishments, and  for  regulating  the  conduct  of  His  Majesty's  said 
Civil  Establishments  and  the  conditions  of  service  therein. 

And  whereas  it  is  expedient  that  so  much  of  the  aforesaid 
Orders  as  is  now  in  force  should  be  consolidated,  with  cer- 
tain amendments,  into  one  Order  in  Council. 

I.  Now  therefore  His  Majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  of 
His  Privy  Council,  doth  order  and  it  is  hereby  ordered,  that, 
as  from  the  date  of  this  Order,  so  much  of  the  aforesaid 
Orders  as  is  now  in  force  shall  be  repealed,  and  that  the  pro- 
visions following  shall  have  effect  in  substitution  for  them : — 

Provided  that  such  repeal  or  substitution  shall  not  affect  the 
validity  of  anything  done  under  or  by  virtue  of  such  orders  or 
any  of  them. 

Provided  also  that  nothing  in  this  Order  shall  affect  any 
right,  privilege,  or  exemption  enjoyed  by  any  person  in  His 
Majesty's  Civil  Establishments  under  Regulations  in  force  at 
the  date  of  the  passing  of  this  Order. 

1  Note  particularly  Clause  7. 
271]  271 


272  APPENDIX  A  [272 

Part  I 

2.  Such  persons  as  His  Majesty  in  Council  shall  have  ap- 
proved shall  be  His  Majesty's  Civil  Service  Commissioners 
(herinafter  called  the  Commissioners)  for  testing  the  quali- 
fications of  the  persons  proposed  to  be  appointed  to  any  situa- 
tion or  employment  in  His  Majesty's  Civil  Establishments,  and 
for  testing,  in  conformity  with  regulations  to  be  from  time  to 
time  issued  by  the  Army  Council,  the  literary  qualifications  of 
candidates  for  admission  by  means  of  competitive  examina- 
tions to  the  Royal  Military  College  at  Sandhurst,  and  to  the 
Royal  Military  Academy  at  Woolwich,  and  shall  hold  their 
offices  during  the  pleasure  of  His  Majesty;  and  shall  have 
power,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of 
His  Majesty's  Treasury  (hereinafter  called  the  Treasury)  to 
appoint  from  time  to  time  such  assistant  examiners  and  others 
as  may  be  required  to  assist  them  in  the  performance  of  the 
duties  herein  assigned  to  them. 

Provided  that  any  Commissioner  appointed  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid  may,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Treasury  pre- 
viously obtained,  by  writing  under  his  hand  authorize  the  Sec- 
retary for  the  time  being  to  the  Civil  Service  Commission  to 
act  as  Commissioner  at  any  time  during  the  absence  of  any  of 
the  Commissioners  or  during  any  vacancy  among  the  Commis- 
sioners or  for  such  period  during  such  absence  or  vacancy  as 
may  be  fixed  by  such  authorization. 

The  Secretary,  when  acting  in  pursuance  of  such  authoriza- 
tion, shall  have  all  powers,  duties  and  authorities  assigned  by 
this  or  any  future  Order  in  Council  to  the  Commissioners  for 
the  time  being  appointed  for  the  purposes  aforesaid. 

3.  Subject  to  the  provisions  of  Clause  7  of  this  Order  and 
to  the  exceptions  specified  in  the  Schedule  marked  B,  appended 
hereto,  the  qualifications  of  all  such  persons  as  may  seek  or  be 
proposed  for  appointment,  either  permanently  or  temporarily, 
to  any  situation  or  employment  in  any  of  His  Majesty's  Civil 
Establishments  shall,  before  they  are  so  appointed,  be  tested 
by  or  under  the  directions  of  the  said  Commissioners ;  and  no 
person  (save  as  excepted  in  the  said  Schedule  B)  shall  be  ap- 


273]  APPENDIX  A  273 

pointed  to  any  such  Establishment  until  a  Certificate  of  his 
qualification  shall  have  been  issued  by  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
missioners declaring  that  he  has  satisfied  them — 

ist.  That  he  is  within  the  limits  of  age  prescribed  for  the 
situation  or  employment  to  which  he  desires  to  be 
admitted ; 

2nd.  That  he  is  free  from  any  physical  defect  or  disease 
which  would  be  likely  to  interfere  with  the  proper 
discharge  of  his  duties ; 

3rd.  That  his  character  is  such  as  to  qualify  him  for  such 
situation  or  employment;  and 

4th.  That  he  possesses  the  requisite  knowledge  and  abil- 
ity to  enter  on  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 

4.  The  rules  applicable  to  each  Establishment  (hereinafter 
called  Department),  under  each  of  the  above  heads,  shall  be 
settled,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Treasury,  by  the  Com- 
missioners and  the  Head  of  the  Department. 

5.  Save  as  hereinafter  excepted,  all  appointments  which  it 
may  be  necessary  to  make  to  any  of  the  situations  in  the  De- 
partments included  in  Schedule  A  appended  hereto,  or  any 
other  situations  included  or  to  be  included  in  that  Schedule, 
shall  be  made  by  means  of  competitive  examinations,  accord- 
ing to  regulations  framed  or  to  be  from  time  to  time  framed 
by  the  Commissioners,  and  approved  by  the  Treasury,  open  to 
all  persons  (of  the  requisite  age,  health,  character,  and  other 
qualifications  prescribed  in  the  said  regulations)  who  may  be 
desirous  of  attending  the  same,  subject  to  the  payment  of  such 
fees  as  may  be  prescribed  under  this  Order,  or  may  have  al- 
ready been  prescribed  under  the  Orders  of  4th  June,  1870, 
and  of  22nd  March,  1879,  now  repealed.  Such  examinations 
shall  be  held  at  such  periods,  and  for  such  situations  or  groups 
of  situations,  as  the  Commissioners,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Treasury,  shall  have  from  time  to  time  determined,  and  shall 
have  reference,  as  the  Commissioners,  after  consultation  with 
the  Head  of  the  Department  concerned  and  with  the  approval 
of  the  Treasury,  may  deem  expedient,  either  to  the  vacancies 


274  APPENDIX  A  [274 

existing  at  the  time  of  the  examination,  or  to  the  number  of 
vacancies  which  may  be  estimated  as  Hkely  to  occur  within  any 
period  not  exceeding  six  months  after  the  commencement  of 
the  examination,  or  to  such  vacancies  occurring  within  any 
period  not  exceeding  six  months  from  the  date  of  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  result  of  the  examination  as  the  Head  of 
the  Department  may  desire  to  have  so  filled. 

6.  After  the  candidate  has  passed  his  examination  and  his 
certificate  of  qualification  has  been  issued  by  the  Commission- 
ers, he  shall  enter  on  a  period  of  probation  of  one  year,  or  such 
extended  period  not  exceeding  two  years  in  all,  as  may  be  pre- 
scribed by  the  Head  of  his  Department.  During  this  time  his 
conduct  and  capacity  shall  be  subjected  to  such  tests  as  may 
be  determined  by  the  Head  of  the  Department,  and  he  shall 
not  be  finally  appointed  to  the  Public  Service  unless  and  until 
his  probation  shall  have  furnished  to  the  Head  of  his  Depart- 
ment satisfactory  proof  of  his  fitness. 

7.  In  case  the  Head  of  a  Department  to  which  a  situation 
belongs  and  the  Treasury  shall  consider  that  the  qualifications 
in  respect  of  knowledge  and  ability  deemed  requisite  for  such 
situation  are  wholly  or  in  part  professional,  or  otherwise 
peculiar,  and  not  ordinarily  to  be  acquired  in  the  Civil  Service, 
and  the  Head  of  the  Department  shall  propose  to  appoint 
thereto  a  person  who  has  acquired  such  qualifications  in  other 
pursuits,  or  in  case  the  Head  of  the  Department  and  the  Treas- 
ury shall  consider  that  it  would  be  for  the  public  interest  that 
the  prescribed  examination  and  the  rules  in  regard  to  age 
should  be  wholly  or  partially  dispensed  with,  the  Commission- 
ers may,  if  they  think  fit,  dispense  with  such  examination 
wholly  or  partially,  and  with  such  rules  in  regard  to  age,  and 
may  grant  their  certificate  of  qualification  upon  evidence  satis- 
factory to  them  that  the  said  person  is  fully  qualified  in  respect 
of  age,  health,  character,  and  knowledge  and  ability. 

8.  When  a  person  has  been  selected  for  appointment  to  an 
office  in  any  Department,  and  the  state  of  business  in  that  De- 
partment makes  it  necessary  that  it  should  enter  upon  his 
duties  before  the  issue  in  his  favour  of  a  certificate  by  the 


275]  APPENDIX  A  275 

Commissioners,  the  Treasury  may,  if  they  think  proper,  direct 
that  his  salary  shall  be  payable  from  the  date  on  which  he 
commences  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  provided  that  they  are 
satisfied  that  the  delay  in  the  issue  of  the  certificate  is  owing 
wholly  to  causes  beyond  his  control.  If  such  person  is  on  a 
scale  of  salary,  the  first  incremental  period  of  such  scale  shall 
be  reckoned  from  the  date  on  which  his  salary  became  pay- 
able, provided  that  a  certificate  shall  in  the  meanwhile  have 
been  issued  by  the  Commissioners. 

9.  Fees  shall  be  paid  of  such  amount,  in  such  manner,  and 
at  such  times,  by  persons  attending  examinations  held  by  the 
Commissioners,  or  certificated  by  them  under  Clause  7  of  this 
Order,  as  they,  with  the  approval  of  the  Treasury,  have  pre- 
scribed, or  shall  from  time  to  time  prescribe,  by  notice  pub- 
lished by  them  in  the  London  Gazette. 

The  Commissioners  may,  with  the  like  approval,  exempt 
from  the  payment  of  fees  such  classes  of  persons  as  they  may 
think  fit  to  exempt.  Every  such  exemption  shall  be  published 
in  the  London  Gazette. 

The  Commissioners,  with  the  like  approval,  may,  by  notice 
in  the  London  Gazette,  cancel  any  preceding  notice  therein,  or 
any  part  thereof,  and  may,  by  such  or  by  any  further  notice, 
vary  the  amount  of  the  fees  to  be  paid  by  persons  attending 
examinations  held  by  them,  or  the  manner,  or  the  time,  of  pay- 
ing such  fees,  or  the  classes  of  persons  required  to  pay  them, 
or  exempted  from  paying  them. 

10.  All  appointments  and  promotions  with  respect  to  which 
certificates  have  been  issued  by  the  Commissioners,  and  all 
assignments  and  transfers  of  Second  Division  Clerks,  shall  be 
published  by  the  Commissioners  in  the  London  Gazette. 

11.  The  situations  included  in  the  schedule  marked  B,  hereto 
appended,  shall  be  wholly  excepted  from  the  operation  of  this 
Part  of  this  Order. 

Provided  that  the  Head  of  any  Department,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Treasury,  may  from  time  to  time,  by  notice  in 
the  London  Gazette,  add  situations  to  either  of  the  said 
Schedules,  marked  A  and  B  respectively,  or  withdraw  situa- 
tions therefrom. 


276  APPENDIX  A  [276 

Part  II 

RULES  APPLICABLE  TO   ALL  PERMANENT  OFFICERS  IN   HIS   MA- 
JESTY'S  CIVIL   ESTABLISHMENTS 

12.  It  shall  be  competent  for  the  Treasury  to  direct,  should 
they  see  cause,  that  inquiry  be  made  at  intervals  of  not  less 
than  five  years  into  the  pay  and  numbers  of  officers  employed 
by  any  Department  of  State. 

13.  Attendance  Books  shall  be  kept  in  every  Department 
for  the  purpose  of  recording  the  times  of  arrival  and  departure 
of  persons  employed  therein. 

14.  Officers  are  required  to  attend  not  less  than  seven  hours 
a  day,  but  they  shall  be  allowed  a  half-holiday  on  alternate 
Saturdays,  provided  that  the  Head  of  their  Department  is 
satisfied  that  the  progress  of  public  business  will  not  be  pre- 
judiced thereby. 

15.  It  shall  be  competent  for  the  Head  of  any  Department 
to  call  upon  any  officer  of  such  Department  to  retire  at  any 
time  after  reaching  the  age  of  sixty  on  such  pension  as  by  the 
length  of  his  service  he  is  qualified  to  receive. 

Retirement  shall  be  compulsory  for  every  officer  on  attain- 
ing sixty-five  years  of  age.  But  in  special  cases  the  Treasury 
may,  at  the  instance  of  the  Head  of  a  Department,  extend  an 
officer's  employment  for  a  further  period  not  exceeding  five 
years,  on  being  satisfied  that  such  officer's  retirement  at  65 
would  be  detrimental  to  the  interest  of  the  Public  Service. 

16.  Any  officer  seeking  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons 
shall  resign  his  office  so  soon  as  he  issues  his  address  to  the 
electors,  or  in  any  other  manner  publicly  announces  himself 
as  a  candidate. 

17.  No  officer  shall  be  allowed  to  accept  any  part  in  the 
management  of  any  society,  or  any  trading,  commercial,  indus- 
trial, or  financial  firm  or  company  which  would  require  the  at- 
tendance of  such  officer  at  any  time  between  the  hours  of  10 
a.  m.  and  6  p.  m. 

18.  An  annual  increment  of  salary  shall  not  be  allowed  to 
anv  officer  at  the  date  at  which  it  would  in  ordinary  course 


277]  APPENDIX  A  277 

become  due  without  a  certificate  from  his  immediate  superior, 
countersigned  by  the  Head  of  the  Department,  or  such  person 
as  he  may  designate  for  the  purpose,  to  the  effect  that  the  ser- 
vice of  such  officer  during  the  year  preceding  the  date  of  such 
certificate  has  been  approved. 

Provided  that  if,  at  the  date  when  the  increment  would  in 
ordinary  course  become  due,  the  certificate  cannot  be  given, 
the  Head  of  the  Department  may  specify  a  period  from  the 
expiration  of  which,  if  the  officer's  service  in  the  meanwhile 
has  been  approved,  the  increment  may  be  allowed,  and  may 
from  time  extend  the  period  so  fixed.  If  the  officer's  service 
after  the  grant  of  the  deferred  increment  shall  continue  satis- 
factory, the  Head  of  the  Department  m.ay,  if  and  when  he 
thinks  fit,  increase  the  salary  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  that 
at  which  it  would  have  stood  if  no  increment  had  been  with- 
held or  deferred.  Every  such  increase  shall  be  reported  to  the 
Comptroller  and  Auditor-General. 

19.  Sick  leave  may  be  granted  to  any  officer  by  the  Head  of 
his  Department  subject  to  the  following  conditions,  viz : — 

(i)  After  two  days'  continuous  absence,  a  certificate  by  a 
duly  qualified  medical  practitioner  shall  be  fur- 
nished stating  the  cause  of  such  absence. 

(2)  If  the  number  of  days  during  which  any  officer  is 

absent  in  any  year  without  such  medical  certificate 
shall  exceed  seven  in  the  aggregate,  the  number  of 
days  of  absence  in  excess  of  seven  shall  be  deducted 
from  the  amount  of  ordinary  annual  holidays 
which  may  be  allowed  under  this  Order. 

(3)  Continuous  sick  leave  on  full  pay  shall  not  be  granted 

for  any  period  longer  than  six  months,  but  at  the 
expiration  of  such  six  months  the  Head  of  the  De- 
partment may  at  his  discretion  grant  further  leave 
on  half-pay  for  any  period  not  exceeding  six 
months.  After  twelve  months'  continuous  sick 
leave,  no  officer  shall  receive  any  salary,  except 
with  the  consent  of  the  Treasury,  who  may,  in 
special  circumstances,  allow  payment  of  salary  to 


278  APPENDIX  A  [278 

an  officer  during  any  further  period  of  sick  leave 
at  a  rate  not  exceeding  the  amount  of  pension  (if 
any)  for  which,  at  the  expiration  of  twelve  months" 
sick  leave,  the  officer  would  have  been  qualified. 
(4)  When  the  sick  leave  granted  to  any  officer  shall  have 
amounted  in  the  aggregate  to  twelve  months  dur- 
ing any  period  of  four  years  or  less,  and  it  is  de- 
sired to  grant  to  him  any  further  sick  leave  during 
such  period,  the  case  shall  be  reported  to  the  Treas- 
ury, who  shall  decide  what  payment  (if  any)  shall 
be  made  to  him  in  respect  of  salary  during  such 
further  sick  leave. 

Part  III 

RULES  APPLICABLE  TO  PERMANENT  OFFICERS  IN  HIS  MAJESTY'S 
CIVIL  SERVICE  DRAWING  SALARIES  OR  PLACED  ON  SCALES  IN 
EXCESS  OF  THOSE  OF  THE  SECOND  DIVISION 

20.  Promotion  of  officers  to  whom  Part  III.  of  this  Order 
applies  from  one  class  to  another  shall  be  strictly  according  to 
merit,  and  shall  take  place  subject  to  the  following  conditions: 

(i)  That  there  is  a  vacancy  in  the  higher  class  which, 
under  the  arrangements  sanctioned  for  the  time 
being  by  the  Treasury,  it  is  competent  for  the  Head 
of  the  Department  to  fill; 

(2)  That   the   work   of   the   Department   requires   such 

vacancy  to  be  filled ; 

(3)  That  the  officer  proposed  for  promotion  has  been  re- 

ported by  the  Head  of  his  Department  or  Branch 
as  fit  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  higher  office. 

21.  The  ordinary  annual  holidays  allowed  to  officers  to 
whom  Part  III.  of  this  Order  applies  shall  not  exceed  thirty- 
six  week-days  during  each  of  their  first  ten  years  of  service 
and  forty-eight  week-days  thereafter,  exclusive  in  all  cases  of 
Christmas  Day,  Good  Friday,  the  King's  Birthday,  and  (sub- 
ject to  the  requirements  of  the  Public  Service)  Bank  Holi- 
days :  Provided  that  nothing  in  this  clause  shall  affect  the  rights 


279]  APPENDIX  A  279 

of  existing  officers  who,  under  the  regulations  in  force  before 
the  15th  day  of  August,  1890,  in  the  respective  Departments 
in  which  they  were  then  serving,  are  entitled  to  holidays  in  ex- 
cess of  those  herein  prescribed.^ 

Part  IV. — Chapter  I 

RULES  APPLICABLE  TO  THE  SECOND  DIVISION   OF   HIS   MAJESTY'S 
CIVIL   SERVICE 

22.  The  Second  Division  of  the  Civil  Service,  as  hitherto 
constituted  shall  continue  and  shall  consist  of  Clerks  engaged 
to  serve  in  any  Department  of  the  Civil  Service  to  which  they 
may  from  time  to  time  be  appointed  or  transferred. 

23.  No  Department  of  the  Civil  Service  shall  be  permanently 
increased  or  regulated  afresh  without  provision  being  made 
that  such  of  its  duties  as  are  of  a  suitable  character  shall  be 
performed  by  Clerks  of  the  Second  Division  or  other  officers 
of  a  rank  below  that  Division. 

24.  No  vacancies  shall  be  filled  nor  any  new  appointments 
made  in  any  Department,  except  by  appointing  Clerks  of  the 
Second  Division,  or  other  officers  of  a  rank  below  that  Divi- 
sion, until  the  Treasury  have  been  satisfied  that  the  number  of 
officers  serving  in  such  Department  with  salaries  higher  than 
those  of  the  Second  Division  will  not  be  excessive. 

Chapter  II 

RULES  APPLICABLE  ONLY  TO  CLERKS  OF  THE  SECOND  DIVISION 

WHO  HAVE  NOT   BEEN   PLACED  ON   THE  SCALE  OF  SALARY 

PRESCRIBED  BY  CLAUSE  28  OF  THIS  ORDER 

25.  The  salaries  of  Clerks  of  the  Second  Division  to  whom 
this  Chapter  applies  shall  commence  at  seventy  pounds  per 
annum,  and  shall  rise  by  annual  increments,  as  follows,  viz. : — 

From  seventy  pounds  to  one  hundred  pounds  by  annual 

increments  of  five  pounds. 
From  one  hundred  pounds  to  one  hundred  and  ninety 

pounds    by    annual    increments    of    seven    pounds    ten 

shillings. 

^  Note  how  few  rules  are  fixed  for  the  first  division. 


28o  APPENDIX  A  [280 

From  one  hundred  and  ninety  pounds  to  two  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  by  annual  increments  of  ten  pounds. 

The  Higher  Grade  of  the  Second  Division,  with  salaries 
commencing  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  per  annum,  and 
rising  by  annual  increments  of  ten  pounds  to  three  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds,  shall  continue  only  for  Clerks  to  whom  this 
Chapter  applies. 

26.  When  the  salary  of  any  Clerk  to  whom  this  Chapter  ap- 
plies reaches  one  hundred  pounds,  a  special  report,  to  be  offi- 
cially recorded  in  writing,  on  his  competence,  character,  and 
diligence,  shall  be  required  from  the  Head  of  the  room  and 
from  the  Head  of  the  Branch  in  which  the  Clerk  is  serving  or 
has  served ;  and  until  this  report  is  received  and  countersigned 
by  the  Head  of  the  Department  as  satisfactory  the  Clerk  shall 
not  receive  any  further  advance  in  salary. 

When  the  salary  of  any  Clerk  to  whom  this  Chapter  applies 
reaches  one  hundred  and  ninety  pounds,  he  shall  not  receive 
any  further  increment  unless  he  obtains  a  report,  to  be  officially 
recorded  in  writing,  from  his  immediate  superiors,  confirmed 
by  the  Head  of  the  Department,  that  he  is  thoroughly  com- 
petent to  perform  efficiently  work  of  a  superior  character. 

27.  Promotion  to  the  Higher  Grade  mentioned  in  Clause  25 
of  this  Order  shall  be  made  according  to  merit,  and  not  accord- 
ing to  seniority. 

A  promotion  to  the  said  Higher  Grade  shall  be  made  when- 
ever any  Clerk  who  remains  on  the  scale  of  salary  prescribed 
by  Clause  25  shall  reach  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  if  there  be  a  Clerk  qualified  for  and  deserving  of  such 
promotion ;  but  the  Head  of  a  Department  may  at  any  time 
recommend,  and  the  Treasury  may  sanction,  as  a  very  excep- 
tional case,  the  promotion  to  the  Higher  Grade  of  a  specially 
meritorious  Clerk  remaining  on  the  scale  of  salary  prescribed 
by  Clause  25  who  is  in  receipt  of  a  salary  less  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds.  When  a  promotion  has  been  made  to  the 
Higher  Grade  of  a  Clerk  other  than  the  Clerk  who  reached  the 
salary  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  the  latter  may,  never- 


28i]  APPENDIX  A  281 

theless,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Head  of  his  Department,  re- 
ceive promotion  to  the  Higher  Grade,  at  or  after  the  date 
when  the  Clerk  who  was  actually  promoted  would  in  ordinary 
course  have  reached  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

Chapter  HI 

RULES  APPLICABLE  TO  ALL  SECOND  DIVISION  CLERKS  OTHER  THAN 
THOSE  REFERRED  TO  IN  THE  PRECEDING  CHAPTER 

28.  The  scale  of  salary  of  Second  Division  Clerks  (except 
as  provided  in  Chapter  H.  of  this  Part  of  this  Order)  shall 
commence  at  seventy  pounds  per  annum,  and  shall  rise  by  an- 
nual increments  as  follows,  viz. : — 

From  seventy  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  by  an- 
nual increments  of  seven  pounds  ten  shillings. 

From  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  to  two  hundred 
pounds,  by  annual  increments  of  ten  pounds. 

From  two  hundred  pounds  to  three  hundred  pounds,  by 
annual  increments  of  ten  pounds. 

29.  When  the  salary  of  any  Clerk  of  the  Second  Division 
shall  reach  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  a  report 
in  writing  on  the  competence,  character  and  diligence  of  such 
Clerk  shall  be  required  from  the  immediate  superior  under 
whom  the  Clerk  is  serving,  and  until  this  report  has  been 
countersigned  as  satisfactory  by  the  Head  of  the  Department, 
or  such  officer  as  he  may  designate  for  the  purpose,  the  Clerk 
shall  not  receive  any  further  increment  of  salary. 

30.  No  increment  of  salary  beyond  two  hundred  pounds  per 
annum  shall  be  allowed  to  a  Clerk  of  the  Second  Division, 
without  a  report  in  writing  from  his  immediate  superior,  coun- 
tersigned by  the  Head  of  the  Department,  or  such  officer  as  he 
may  designate  for  the  purpose,  to  the  eflfect  that  such  Clerk  is 
competent  to  perform  efficiently  the  highest  duties  ordinarily 
assigned  to  Clerks  of  the  Second  Division  in  the  Department 
in  which  he  is  serving. 

31.  If,  on  the  first  day  of  April  of  any  year,  the  salary  of 
any  Clerk  certificated  before  the  first  day  of  April,  1908,  but 


2g2  APPENDIX  A  [282 

placed  on  the  scale  prescribed  by  Clause  28  of  this  Order,  shall 
amount  to  a  sum  intermediate  between  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two  pounds  ten  shillings  and  one  hundred  and  thirty 
pounds,  the  annual  increment  of  salary  accruing  next  there- 
after shall  be  calculated  at  the  sum  of— 

(a)  The  portion  of  an  increment  at  the  rate  of  seven 
pounds  ten  shillings  per  annum  proportionate  to  the 
period  between  such  first  day  of  April  and  the  date 
next  thereafter  upon  which  (but  for  his  having 
been  placed  on  the  said  scale)  an  increment  would 
have  accrued,  and 
(6)  the  portion  of  an  increment  at  the  rate  of  ten  pounds 
per  annum  proportionate  to  the  period  between  the 
last-mentioned  date  and  the  first  day  of  April  next 
following. 

Chapter  IV 

RULES  APPLICABLE  TO  THE  WHOLE  OF  THE  SECOND  DIVISION 

32.  The  ordinary  annual  holidays  allowed  to  Second  Divi- 
sion Clerks  shall  not  exceed  fourteen  week-days  during  each 
of  their  first  five  years  of  service,  twenty-one  week-days  dur- 
ing each  of  their  next  ten  years  of  service,  and  twenty-four 
week-days  thereafter,  exclusive  in  all  cases  of  Christmas  Day, 
Good  Friday,  the  King's  Birthday,  and  (subject  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  Public  Service)  Bank  holidays. 

Provided  that  nothing  in  this  clause  shall  affect  the  rights  of 
existing  Clerks  who,  under  the  regulations  in  force  before  the 
21  St  day  of  March,  1890,  in  the  respective  Departments  in 
which  they  were  then  serving,  are  entitled  to  holidays  in  excess 
of  those  herein  prescribed. 

33.  Notwithstanding  anything  contained  in  Clause  25  and 
Clause  28  of  this  Order,  the  Treasury  may,  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Head  of  a  Department,  advance  by  such 
amount,  not  exceeding  four  annual  increments,  as  they  may 
deem  expedient,  the  salary  of  any  Clerk  who,  having  served 
for  not  less  than  six  years  in  the  Second  Division,  is  reported 
to  be  exceptionally  meritorious. 


283]  APPENDIX  A  283 

34.  Any  Clerk  who  is  or  who  has  been  a  Second  Division 
Clerk  may  be  appointed,  without  a  further  certificate  of  quali- 
fication, to  any  clerkship  in  the  Department  in  which  he  is  serv- 
ing, provided  that: — 

(a)  Such  clerkship  is  not  one  which  is  ordinarily  filled  by 
open  competition  under  the  scheme  known  as 
"  Class  I.,"  or  under  special  regulations ; 

{h)  The  maximum  salary  of  such  clerkship  does  not  ex- 
ceed five  hundred  pounds  per  annum ;  and 

(c)  Such  clerkship  does  not  lead  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
promotion  to  a  clerkship  of  which  that  maximum 
salary  exceeds  five  hundred  pounds  per  annum. 

35.  Any  Clerk  of  the  Second  Division  appointed  to  a  Minor 
StafiF  clerkship  the  maximum  salary  of  which  does  not  exceed 
three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  per  annum  shall  be,  in  all 
respects  other  than  that  of  salary,  subject  to  the  regulations 
governing  the  Second  Division ;  and,  if  the  maximum  of  the 
Minor  Staff  clerkship  is  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds,  may,  at  such  time  after  he  has  attained  the  said  maxi- 
mum as  the  Treasury  may  decide,  be  placed  upon  the  scale  of 
the  Second  Division  at  the  point  represented  by  such  maxi- 
mum, and  may  proceed  by  the  usual  annual  increments  to  a 
maximum  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  if  appointed  to 
the  Minor  Staff  clerkship  before  21st  December,  1907,  or  of 
three  hundred  pounds  if  appointed  to  such  clerkship  after  that 
date. 

36.  A  Clerk  shall  not  be  promoted  from  the  Second  Division 
to  any  post  carrying  a  maximum  salary  exceeding  £500  a  year, 
or  leading  in  the  ordinary  course  of  promotion  to  posts  of 
which  the  maximum  salary  exceeds  £500  a  year,  without  a 
special  certificate  from  the  Commissioners,  to  be  granted  ex- 
ceptionally, after  not  less  than  eight  years'  service,  upon  a 
special  recommendation  from  the  Head  of  the  Department, 
and  with  the  approval  of  the  Treasury ;  and  every  such  promo- 
tion shall  be  published  in  the  London  Gazette,  with  a  note  of 
such  recommendation,  certificate,  and  approval,  and  shall  have 
effect  from  the  date  of  such  publication. 


284  APPENDIX  A  [284 

37.  (i.)  Redundant  Second  Division  Clerks  may  be  trans- 
ferred from  one  Department  to  another  without  reference  to 
their  age  or  the  amount  of  salary  of  which  they  are  in  receipt. 

(ii.)  Except  in  the  case  of  redundancy  no  Clerk  of  the  Sec- 
ond Division  shall  be  so  transferred  without  the  consent  of 
the  Commissioners. 

(iii.)  The  consent  of  the  Commissioners  and  the  approval 
of  the  Treasury  shall  be  required  to  the  making-  redundant  of 
any  Second  Division  Clerk  who  has  been  appointed  to  that  Di- 
vision on  the  ground  that  his  retention  in  a  particular  Depart- 
ment was  necessary. 

Chapter  V 

EXAMINATION    OF   CANDIDATES    FOR   THE   SECOND   DIVISION    AND 
ASSIGNMENT    OF   SECOND   DIVISION    CLERKS 

38.  The  Commissioners  shall  at  fixed  intervals,  or  whenever 
they  may,  with  the  approval  of  the  Treasury,  decide  it  to  be 
necessary,  hold  competitive  examinations  for  clerkships  of  the 
Second  Division  in  such  subjects  and  under  such  regulations 
as  they,  with  the  approval  of  the  Treasury,  may  from  time  to 
time  prescribe. 

39.  Lists  of  the  successful  competitors  shall  be  made  out, 
in  the  order  of  merit,  up  to  the  number  required,  if  so  many 
are  found  by  the  Commissioners  to  be  qualified  for  appoint- 
ment to  the  Second  Division.  In  ascertaining  the  order  of 
merit,  such  allowance  may  be  made  as  the  Commissioners 
witii  tile  approval  of  the  Treasury  may  from  time  to  time  pre- 
scribe in  respect  of  previous  service  as  Registered  Boy  Clerk. 

40.  From  lists  made  out  as  aforesaid,  the  Commissioners, 
on  the  application  of  Departments,  may  assign  Clerks  for  per- 
manent or  temporary  service.  Assignment  shall,  as  a  general 
rule.  I)e  made  by  the  Commissioners  according  to  the  order  of 
the  names  on  the  list,  an  older  list  taking  precedence  over  a 
more  recent  list.     Provided  that: — 

(i)  They  may  assign  to  any  Department  any  unassigned 
successful  competitor  who  has  shown  special  quali- 
fications in  any  particular  subject  included  in  the 


285]  APPENDIX  A  285 

scheme  of  examination  if  special  application  for  a 
Clerk  so  qualified  be  made  by  that  Department ; 
(ii)  If  a  successful  competitor  has  at  the  date  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  competition  served  as  a  Boy 
Clerk  or  Assistant  Clerk  ("Abstractor")  for  not 
less  than  six  full  months  in  a  Department,  he  may, 
on  the  application  of  the  Head  of  that  Depart- 
ment, be  specially  assigned  thereto. 

41.  Under  conditions  to  be  settled  by  the  Commissioners, 
with  the  approval  of  the  Treasury,  successful  competitors  will 
be  allowed,  subject  to  the  requirements  of  the  Public  Service, 
to  select  the  Departments  in  which  they  may  prefer  to  serve, 
but  any  successful  competitor  refusing  to  serve  in  the  Depart- 
ment to  which  he  is  assigned  may  be  removed  from  the  list. 

42.  On  a  successful  competitor  being  assigned  to  a  Depart- 
ment his  name  shall  be  removed  from  the  list.  If  the  assign- 
ment has  been  for  temporary  service,  the  Clerk's  name  shall 
be  restored  to  the  list  on  the  termination  of  such  service,  if 
approved;  but  the  Commissioner  may  assign  any  Clerk,  who 
is  serving  in  a  Department,  to  a  permanent  Clerkship  therein. 

43.  A  Second  Division  Clerk  shall  be  regarded  as  accepted 
by  a  Department  to  which  he  has  been  assigned  for  permanent 
service,  when  he  has  completed  twelve  months'  continuous  ser- 
vice in  that  Department,  unless  the  Commissioners  are  in- 
formed by  the  Head  of  his  Department  that  he  has  not  af- 
forded satisfactory  proof  of  his  fitness  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  Clause  6  of  this  Order. 

A  Second  Division  Clerk  shall  not.  except  for  grave  miscon- 
duct, be  rejected  on  probation  till  he  has  served  for  at  least 
three  months  in  the  Department  to  which  he  has  been  assigned. 

If  a  Second  Division  Clerk  is  rejected  on  probation  by  the 
Department  to  which  he  has  been  assigned,  the  Head  of  the 
Department  shall  report  to  the  Commissioners  the  reasons  for 
his  rejection;  and  the  Commissioners  shall  decide  whether  the 
rejected  Clerk  shall  be  finally  discharged,  or  shall  be  re-as- 
signed for  service  in  another  Department. 


2g5  APPENDIX  A  [286 

In  the  event  of  a  rejected  Second  Division  Clerk  being  re- 
assigned as  aforesaid,  the  Commissioners  shall  decide  whether 
his  previous  service  should  be  reckoned,  with  or  without  con- 
ditions, towards  increment  of  salary.  If  they  decide  that  his 
service  should  not  be  so  reckoned,  the  fact  and  the  conditions, 
if  any,  shall  be  notified  by  the  Commissioners  to  the  Comp- 
troller and  Auditor-General. 

Part  V 

RULES  APPLICARLE  TO  SITUATIONS  OR  EMPLOYMENTS  BELOW  THE 
SECOND  DIVISION 

44.  Below  the  Second  Division  persons  may  be  employed 
for  copying,  routine  work  under  direct  supervision,  or  other 
work  inferior  to  that  of  Clerks  of  the  Second  Division,  in  ac- 
cordance with  regulations  framed  from  time  to  time  by  the 
Commissioners  with  the  approval  of  the  Treasury  and  at  rates 
of  pay  from  time  to  time  prescribed  by  the  Treasury. 

45.  An  established  Civil  Servant  of  a  rank  below  the  Sec- 
ond Division  may  be  appointed  to  that  Division  on  the  ground 
of  special  merit  with  a  certificate  from  the  Commissioners 
under  Clause  7  of  this  Order.  But  such  certificate  shall  only 
be  granted  exceptionally  after  not  less  than  six  years'  estab- 
lished service  (towards  which  not  less  than  one  year's  and  not 
more  than  two  years'  approved  service  as  Registered  Boy 
Clerk  may  be  allowed  to  reckon),  upon  a  recommendation 
from  the  Head  of  the  Department  and  with  the  approval  of 
the  Treasury.  Whenever  such  an  appointment  is  made,  the 
Treasury  may  allow  the  person  appointed  to  enter  the  scale 
of  the  Division  at  such  salary  as  they  shall  think  fit,  not  being 
higher  than  that  which  he  was  receiving  at  the  date  of  his  said 
appointment;  and  he  shall  be  entitled  to  the  same  amount  of 
annual  holiday  as  if  his  previous  established  service  had  been 
in  the  Second  I^ivision. 

46.  A  Clerk  of  the  class  known  as  "  Assistant  Clerks  "  or 
''  Abstractors  "  may.  with  the  consent  of  the  Commissioners, 
be  transferred  from  one  Department  to  a  similar  situation  in 
another,  without  a  further  certificate  of  qualification. 


28;] 


APPENDIX  A 
Schedule  A 


287 


All  situations  in  the  undermentioned  Departments  except 
such  situations  as  have  already  been  withdrawn  from  the 
Schedule  A.  appended  to  the  Order  in  Council  of  the  4th  June, 
1870,  or  have  already  been  added  to  the  Schedule  B.  appended 
to  the  Order. 


Admiralty. 

Agriculture  and  Fisheries, 
Board  of. 

Charity  Commission. 

Chief  Secretary's  Ofifice,  Ire- 
land. 

Civil  Service  Commission. 

Colonial  Office. 

Customs  and  Excise.  Board 
of. 

Deeds,  Registry  of,  Ireland. 

Ecclesiastical  Commission. 

Education,  Board  of. 

Exchequer  and  Audit  Depart- 
ment. 

Home  Office  and  Subordinate 
Departments. 

India  Office. 

Inland  Revenue,  Board  of. 

Local  Government  Board, 
England. 

Local  Government  Boards 
Scotland. 

Mint. 

National  Debt  Office. 

Paymaster-General's    Office.  • 


Police    Office, 
Dublin. 


Metropolitan, 


Public  Works  Office,  Ireland. 

Record  Office,  England. 

Register  House  Departments, 
Edinburgh. 

Registrar-General's        Office, 
England. 

Registrar-General's        Office, 
Ireland. 

Scotland,  Office  of  Secretary 
for. 

Stationery  Office. 

Trade,  Board  of,  and  Subor- 
dinate Departments. 

Treasury     and     Subordinate 
Departments. 

Valuation  and  Boundary  Sur- 
vey, Ireland. 

War  Office. 

Woods,  Office  of. 

Works,  Office  of. 

Throughout     His     Majesty's 
Civil  Establishments : — 
Clerkships    (Class   I.). 
Clerkships  of  the  Second 

Division. 
Assistant    Clerkships    of 
the  Abstractor  Class. 


2g8  APPENDIX  A  [288 

Schedule  B 
Situations  altogether  excepted  from  the  operation  of  Part  I. 
of  this  Order. 

1.  All  situations  to  which  the  holder  is  appointed  directly  by 
the  Crown. 

2.  All  situations  included  in  any  Order  or  Warrant  made  by 
the  Treasury  under  Section  4  of  the  Superannuation  Act,  1859. 

3.  All  situations  which  are  filled,  in  the  customary  course  of 
promotion,  by  persons  previously  serving  in  the  same  depart- 
ment. 

4.  All  situations  which  have  already  been  added  to  the 
Schedule  B.  attached  to  the  Order  in  Council  of  the  4th  June, 
1870.  and  have  not  since  been  withdrawn  therefrom. 


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289 


APPENDIX  C 

Class  I  ^  Clerkships,  Indian  Civil  Service  and  Easteric 

Cadetships 

salary  of  class  i  clerks 

Results  of  the  Examinations,  Subjects  and  Marks,  and  Speci- 
mens of  Papers  Set  in  ipio 

The  same  examinations  are  used  to  test  nominees  for  clerk- 
ships in  the  Foreign  Office,  attaches  in  the  diplomatic  service, 
and  student  interpreters  in  China,  Japan,  and  Siam ;  but  a 
total  of  4,000  instead  of  6,000  points  is  set  as  a  limit.  It  is 
claimed,  with  reason,  that  Foreign  Office  and  diplomatic  offi- 
cials cannot  safely  be  chosen  by  open  competition. 

For  the  first  division  posts  the  maximum  scale  of  salary  is : — 

Third  Class i200 £20 £500 

Second  Class 600 25 800 

First  Class 850 50 1,000 

This  scale,  however,  is  only  a  maximum,  and  within  that 
maximum  the  present  varying  scales  of  the  Upper  Establish- 
ments (many  of  which  are  at  lower  rates)  will  be  maintained, 
at  all  events  for  the  present. 

Clerks  of  Class  I.  are  employed  in  the  following  depart- 
ments: — Admiralty  (Head  Office);  Chief  Secretary's  Office, 
Ireland ;  Civil  Service  Commission ;  Colonial  Office  ;  Constabu- 
lary, Ireland  (Inspector-General's  Office)  ;  Customs  and  Ex- 
cise Department;  Home  Office;  India  Office  (Correspondence, 
Political,  Accountant-General's,  Store,  and  Audit  Depart- 
ments) ;  Inland  Revenue;  Local  Government  Board,  England 

^  Gass  I  =  division  T.  The  latter  would  seem  to  be  the  better  term, 
since  there  are  all  kinds  of  first  classes  in  the  civil  service. 

290  [290 


291]  APPENDIX  C  291 

and  Ireland ;  Lunacy  Commission ;  Patent  Office ;  Post  Office 
(Secretary's  Office  and  Surveyors'  Department)  ;  Privy  Coun- 
cil Office;  Record  Offices,  England  and  Ireland;  Scottish 
Office ;  Trade,  Board  of ;  Treasury ;  War  Office ;  Works, 
Office  of. 

The  concurrent  open  competitive  examinations  held  in  Au- 
gust, 1910,  for  Class  I.  Clerkships  in  the  Home  Civil  Service, 
for  the  India  Civil  Service,  and  for  Eastern  Cadetships  were 
attended  by  a  total  of  209  candidates. 

The  candidates  were  separated  into  the  following  groups  ac- 
cording to  the  services  for  which  they  competed : — 

For  Class  I,  India  Civil  Service,  and  Eastern  Cadetships..  163 

Class  I  and  India  Civil  Service 14 

Class  I  and  Eastern  Cadetships   i 

India  Civil  Service  and  Eastern  Cadetships 5 

Class  I  only 23 

India   Civil    Service  only    2 

Eastern  Cadetships  only  i 

209 


When  the  results  were  declared  there  were  60  vacancies  ex- 
isting for  the  Civil  Service  of  India  and  14  for  the  Home  Civil 
Service.  As,  however,  the  regulations  for  the  latter  service 
are  framed  with  a  view  to  supplying  the  requirements  of  the 
public  service  during  the  six  months  following  the  declaration 
of  the  result  of  the  examination,  the  total  of  those  successful 
was  ultimately  raised  to  28  by  the  occurrence  of  subsequent 
vacancies.    The  number  of  Eastern  Cadetships  filled  was  25.^ 

Candidates  for  the  Home  Service  are  allowed  to  choose,  ac- 
cording to  their  place  on  the  list,  among  the  vacancies  (a)  for 
which  they  are  duly  qualified ;  or  they  may  elect  to  wait  for 
the  chance  of  a  vacancy  (&).  When  vacancies  (&)  occur,  they 
are  offered  in  rotation  to  the  qualified  Candidates  then  on  the 

^  Cf.  Fifty-fifth  Report  and  other  recent  publications  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commissioners,  passim. 


202  APPENDIX  C  [292 

list,  who  are  free  to  decline  them  without  forfeiting  their 
claim  to  subsequent  vacancies. 

The  limits  of  age  for  these  positions  are  22  and  24. 

Candidates  must  have  attained  the  age  of  22  and  must  not 
have  attained  the  age  of  24,  on  the  first  day  of  August  in  the 
year  in  which  the  Examination  is  held.    Fee  £6. 

The  following  are  the  subjects  of  examination: 

Marks 

1.  English  Composition   SOO 

2.  Sanskrit  Language  and  Literature  800 

3.  Arabic  Language  and  Literature 800 

Greek,  not  less  than  two  sub-divisions,  of  which  one 

must  be  Translation  : — 

4.  Translation    40O 

5.  Prose  Composition  200 

6.  Verse  Composition  200 

7.  Literature,  &c 300 

Latin,  not  less  than  two  sub-divisions,  of  which  one 

must  be  Translation  : — 

8.  Translation    400 

g.  Prose   Composition    200 

10.  Verse   Composition    200 

11.  Literature,  &c 300 

12.  English  Language  and  Literature 600 

13.  Italian,  Translation,  Composition  and  Conversation..  400 

14.  Italian,  History  of  the  Language  and  Literature 200 

15.  French,  Translation.  Composition  and  Conversation. .  400 

16.  French,  History  of  the  Language  and  Literature 200 

17.  German,  Translation,   Composition   and   Conversation  400 

18.  German,  History  of  the  Language  and  Literature 200 

The  History  of  these  Languages  and  their  Literatures 

can  only  be  taken  by  Candidates  who  also  offer 
themselves  for  the  rest  of  the  examination  in  those 
Languages. 

19.  Lower   Mathematics  1,200 

20.  Higher   Mathematics    1,200 

Natural  Science,  i.  e.,  any  number  not  exceeding  four 

of  the  following  or  three  if  both  Lower  and  Higher 
Mathematics  be  also  taken : — 


293]  APPENDIX  C  293 

21.  Chemistry    600 

22.  Physics    600 

23.  Geology    600 

24.  Botany    600 

25.  Zoology    600 

26.  Animal  Physiology 600 

27.  Geography    600 

28.  Greek  History   (Ancient,  including  Constitution) 500 

29.  Roman  History  (Ancient,  including  Constitution) 500 

English    History,    either    or    both    sections    may    be 

taken : — 

30.  I.  to  A.  D.  1485   400 

31.  n.  A.  D.  1485  to  1848  400 

2,2.  General  Modern  History  500 

2^.  Logic  and   Psychology   600 

34.  Moral  and  Metaphysical  Philosophy  600 

35.  Political  Economy  and  Economic  History  600 

36.  Political   Science  500 

2,7.  Roman  Law 500 

38.  English  Law  500 

From  the  marks  assigned  to  candidates  in  each  subject  such  deduc- 
tion will  he  made  as  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners  may  deem  neces- 
sary in  order  to  secure  that  no  credit  be  allowed  for  merely  superficial 
knowledge. 

Consistently  with  the  limitations  specified  above,  candidates  are  at 
liberty  to  name  any  of  the  foregoing  subjects,  provided  that  the 
maximum  number  of  marks  that  can  be  obtained  from  the  subjects 
chosen  is  limited  to  6,000.  If  this  maximum  is  exceeded  by  a  candi- 
date's selection  he  will  be  required  to  indicate  one  of  his  subjects,  the 
marks  for  ivhich  should,  in  his  case,  be  reduced  so  as  to  bring  hii 
tiiaximum  marks  W'ithin  the  prescribed  limit.  The  marks  so  reduced 
will  be  subject  to  a  correspondingly  reduced  deduction. 

Moreover,  if  a  candidate's  handzvriting  is  not  easily  legible  a  further 
deduction  will,  on  that  account,  be  made  from  the  total  marks  other- 
wise accruing  to  him. 


294  APPENDIX  C  [294 

EXAMINATION  PAPERS^ 

Subjects  for  English  Composition 

Time  allowed,  j  hours 

Write  an  essay  on  one  of  the  following  subjects : — 

"  Socialism  strikes  at  capital,  Liberalism  at  monopoly." 

Or, 
"The  aim  of  the  19th  Century  was  to  liberate;  the  aim  of 
the  20th  Century  will  be  to  control." 
Or, 
"  Literature  and  art  are  flowers  that  border  the  road  of  na- 
tional decline." 

Or, 
Classic  and  Romantic  Ideals. 


Geography.    Paper  2 

Time  allowed,  j  hours 

Question  i  and  any  three  of  the  others  to  be  answered.  Ques- 
tion I  carries  double  marks.  The  remaining  questions  carry 
equal  marks.  Illustrate  your  answers  by  sketch  maps  and 
diagrams  wherever  possible 

I.  Write  an  essay  on  any  one  of  the  following  subjects: — 

(a)  The  influence  of  Marco  Polo  on  European  knowl- 
edge of  the  East. 

{b)  The  attempts  to  determine  the  figure  of  the  Earth. 
{c)  The  lakes  and  lake-basins  of  Eastern  Africa. 

1  It  will  be  seen  how  much  of  a  political  complexion  is  given  to 
these  papers.  All  but  the  mathematics  and  political  science  papers 
require  or  presuppose  some  knowledge  of  political  thought,  and  the 
candidates  who  specialize  in  mathematics  and  natural  sciences  almost 
all  take  political  science  and  political  economy  to  fill  up  their  6,000 
points.  Even  the  prose  passages  set  for  translation  into  foreign  lan- 
guages may  be  said  to  be  borrowed  from  political  literature.  Thus 
Bome  training  in  staatswissenschaft  is  almost  essential  to  success  in 
this  examination. 


20 c]  APPENDIX  C  295 

(d)  The  settlement  of  British  Indian  emigrants  within 
the  British  Empire. 

(e)  The  economic  and  political  significance  of  the  coal- 
fields of  the  Pacific  drainage  area. 

2.  Describe  the  general  structure  and  the  physical  and  political 

divisions  of   Baluchistan  with   special  reference  to  the 
routes  of  approach  to  India. 

3.  Discuss  the  probable  characteristics  of  the  earliest  Medi- 

terranean peoples,  and  state  what  is  known  as  to  their 
migrations  and  the  present  distribution  of  the  type. 

4.  Give  a  geographical  review  of  the  economic  conditions  and 

potentialities  of  either  Argentina  or  Mexico. 

5.  Discuss  the  relations  between  position  and  trade  in  the  case 

of  the  chief  ports  of  Australia. 

6.  Give  an  account  of  the  physical  history  and  characteristics 

of  the  Saint  Lawrence  and  trace  the  bearings  of  the  facts 
you  mention  on  its  value  as  a  waterway. 

7.  Discuss  the  physical  basis  of  the  political  divisions  of  the 

Chinese  Empire. 


Greek  Composition 

Time  allowed,  3  hours 

I 

For  Greek  Prose: — 

Mr.  Cowley  answered  somewhat  sharply :  "  I  am  sorry,  Sir, 
to  hear  you  speak  thus.  I  had  hoped  that  the  vehemence  of 
spirit  which  was  caused  by  those  violent  times  had  now  abated. 
Yet,  sure,  Mr.  Milton,  whatever  you  may  think  of  the  char- 
acter of  King  Charles,  you  will  not  still  justify  his  murder?  " 

"  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Milton,  "  I  must  have  been  of  a  hard  and 
strange  nature,  if  the  vehemence  which  was  imputed  to  me  in 
my  younger  days  had  not  been  diminished  by  the  afflictions 
wherewith  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  chasten  my  age.  I 
will  not  now  defend  all  that  I  may  heretofore  have  written. 
But  this  I  say,  that  I  perceive  not  wherefore  a  king  should  be 
exempted  from  all  punishment.     Is  it  just  that  where  most  is 


296  APPENDIX  C  [296 

given,  least  should  be  required?  Or  politic  that  where  there 
is  the  greatest  power  to  injure,  there  should  be  no  danger  to 
restrain  ?  But,  you  will  say,  there  is  no  such  law.  Such  a  law 
there  is.  There  is  the  law  of  self-preservation  written  by  God 
himself  on  our  hearts.  There  is  the  primal  compact  and  bond 
of  society,  not  graven  in  stone,  or  sealed  with  wax,  nor  put 
down  on  parchment,  nor  set  forth  in  any  express  form  of 
words  by  men  of  old  when  they  came  together ;  but  implied  in 
the  very  act  that  they  so  came  together,  presupposed  in  all  sub- 
sequent law,  not  to  be  repealed  by  any  authority,  nor  invali- 
dated by  being  omitted  in  any  code ;  inasmuch  as  from  thence 
are  all  codes  and  all  authority." — Macaulay. 

Ill 

[Alternative  for  Verse  Composition] 

One  subject  only  to  he  attempted 

For  a  Greek  Oration: — 

A  panegyric  on  the  reign  of  Queen  Victoria. 

Or, 
The  Two-power  standard  of  naval  supremacy. 


Latin  Composition 

III 

[Alternative  for  Latin  Verse  Composition] 

One  subject  only  to  be  attempted 
For  a  Latin  Essay: — 

"  To  be  master  of  the  sea  is  an  abridgment  of  a  monarchy." 
— Bacon. 

Or, 

"  Who  ever  knew  Truth  put  to  the  worse  in  a  free  and  open 
encounter  ?  " — Milton. 


Translate  into  French: — 


207]  APPENDIX  C  297 

IV 
Roads 

From  the  very  earliest  days,  in  all  ages,  in  all  countries,  the 
road  has  been  the  handmaid  of  prosperity.  Without  it  men 
cannot  communicate,  law  and  order  cannot  be  upheld,  com- 
merce cannot  exist.  It  carries  with  it  the  principle  of  inter- 
change of  ideas,  and  of  the  products  of  ideas.  Look  backward 
over  the  pages  of  history.  Rome  was  a  giant  builder  of  roads. 
They  were  part  of  her  process  of  civilisation,  of  her  scheme 
of  Empire.  Together  they  grew,  together  they  decayed.  Then 
the  progress  of  the  great  world  was  stayed.  It  shrunk  into 
fiercely  conflicting  communities,  and  men  were  content  with 
haphazard  tracks.  Along  these  moved  kings  and  their  armies, 
on  horseback  and  on  foot,  from  one  place  of  strength  to  an- 
other, from  walled  city  to  castle,  from  castle  to  abbey. 

The  people  moved  but  little.  At  certain  spots,  dictated  some- 
times by  natural  advantages,  sometimes  by  love  or  fear  of  their 
fellow-mortals,  they  herded  into  villages  and  towns.  In  pro- 
cess of  time  there  came  to  England  trade,  at  first  only  sea- 
borne, afterwards  penetrating  inwards  from  the  coast,  picking 
its  way  by  devious  routes  up  and  down  the  land.  By  degrees 
our  network  of  tracks  grew,  criss  cross,  from  house  to  house, 
from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  from  town  to  town.  These  tracks, 
originally  intended  more  for  pack  horses  than  for  wheel  traffic, 
became  our  roads,  nine-tenths  of  them  crooked,  formless,  and 
without  plan.  In  time  we  had  a  Macadam,  who  reformed 
their  surfaces,  but,  though  Telford  did  his  best,  we  never  had 
a  Napoleon  to  decree  their  direction.  Their  virtue  was  that 
they  spread  out  the  population  equally  over  the  surface  of 
these  islands.  In  this  respect  they  were  good  for  the  land  and 
good  for  the  people. 

V 

It  will  soon  be  forty  years  since  Ruskin  in  his  first  Oxford 

lecture,  nominally  on  fine  art,  made  his  magnificent  appeal  to 

his  young  hearers  to  go  out  as  colonists  into  the  waste  places 

of  the  earth,  and  there  to  take  England  with  them  as  a  spiritual 


298  APPENDIX  C  [298 

Power,  informing  them  with  high  purpose  to  serve  her  even 
at  the  ends  of  the  world.  That  appeal  is  perhaps  now  by  most 
men  at  home  forgotten,  and  was  indeed  little  heeded  even  at 
the  time,  yet  it  was  not  made  in  vain,  and  probably  gave  the 
first  impulse  to  more  than  one  of  those  who  have  since  been 
known  as  Empire-builders.  Ruskin  was  an  observer  of  rare 
accuracy,  and  though  he  was  aware  of  strong  currents  tending 
to  sap  the  foundations  of  character  in  the  generation  to  which 
he  was  speaking,  he  yet  asserted  that  the  race  was  still  strong 
and  good,  free  from  taints  that  had  affected  some  others.  He 
did  not  believe  that  there  was  widespread  degeneracy.  But  he 
urged  with  all  his  might  upon  the  young  men  who  listened  to 
him  that  they  should  choose  their  purpose  in  life  and  pursue  it 
steadfastly.  Perhaps  that  call  too  has  met  with  wider  response 
than  is  sometimes  realised,  for  there  are  many  men  to-day  who 
have  lived  in  its  spirit,  and  have  raised  the  level  of  public  and 
private  life  by  unostentatious  yet  effectual  service. 


Translate  into  Italian: — 

V 


It  is  no  easy  matter  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  blazing  trail 
of  splendour  which  in  such  a  pageant  must  have  drawn  along 
the  London  streets, — those  streets  which  now  we  know  so 
black  and  smoke-grimed,  themselves  then  radiant  with  masses 
of  colour,  gold,  and  crimson,  and  violet.  Yet  there  it  was,  and 
there  the  sun  could  shine  upon  it,  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
eyes  were  gazing  on  the  scene  out  of  the  crowded  lattices. 
Glorious  as  the  spectacle  was,  perhaps,  however,  it  passed  un- 
heeded. Those  eyes  were  watching  all  for  another  object, 
which  now  drew  near.  In  an  open  space  behind  the  constable 
there  was  seen  approaching  a  white  chariot,  drawn  by  two 
palfreys,  in  white  damask,  which  swept  the  ground,  a  golden 
canopy  borne  above  it  making  music  with  silver  bells :  and  in 
the  chariot  sat  the  observed  of  all  observers,  the  beautiful  oc- 
casion of  all  this  glittering  homage;  fortune's  plaything  of  the 
hour,  the  Queen  of  England — queen  at  last — borne  along  upon 
the  waves  of  this  sea  of  glory,  breathing  the  perfumed  incense 


299]  APPENDIX  C  299 

of  greatness  which  she  had  risked  her  fair  name,  her  delicacy, 
her  honour,  her  self-respect,  to  win ;  and  she  had  won  it. 

There  she  sat,  dressed  in  white  tissue  robes,  her  fair  hair 
flowing  loose  over  her  shoulders  and  her  temples  circled  with  a 
light  coronet  of  gold  and  diamonds — most  beautiful — loveliest 
— most  favoured,  perhaps,  as  she  seemed  at  that  hour,  of  all 
England's  daughters.  Alas!  within  the  hollow  round  of  that 
coronet — 

Kept  death  his  court,  and  there  the  antick  sat, 
Scoffing  her  state  and  grinning  at  her  pomp. 

— Froude. 


Political  Economy.    Paper  i 

Time  allowed,  5  hours 

Six  questions,  and  no  more  than  six  questions  to  he  answered. 
Candidates  must  answer  one  at  least  of  the  first  three  ques- 
tions.   All  questions  carry  equal  marks. 

1.  To  what  causes  do  you  attribute  the  gradual  extinction  of 

the  yeoman  farming-class  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth and  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century? 

2.  Illustrate  the  close  relation  between  economic  and  political 

movements  and  conditions  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

3.  "  Some  of  the  social  problems  which  confront  the  states- 

men of  to-day  were  the  subjects  of  legislation  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth."     Examine  this  statement. 

4.  Give  a  short  account  of  the  chief  points  with  regard  to 

which  Ricardo  criticised  Adam  Smith.     Compare  their 
methods  in  dealing  with  economic  problems. 

5.  "  High  wages  are  the  best  economy." 

Discuss  this  statement,  and  give  some  account  of  the 
evidence  adduced  in  its  support. 

6.  Examine  the  economic  policy  of  the  Labour  Party  in  Eng- 

land, and  compare  it  with  that  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Party  in  Germany. 

7.  Consider  and  illustrate  the  effect  of  different  systems  of 

land  tenure  and  cultivation  upon  agricultural  production 
and  efficiency. 


300  APPENDIX  C  [300 

8.  Interest  has  been  described   in   Socialist  literature   as  a 

species  of  rent.  Comment  on  this.  Is  there  any  resem- 
blance, and,  if  so,  what  resemblance,  between  rent  of 
land  and  interest  on  capital. 

9.  Examine  the  importance  of  Elasticity  of  Demand  with 

reference  to  (a)  economic  theory,  {h)  taxation. 
10.  Distinguish  between  the  various  forms  of  wage  payments, 
viz.,  time  wages,  task  wages,  piece  wages.    State  the  in- 
dustrial conditions  which  render  these  respectively  ap- 
plicable. 

Political  Economy.    Paper  2 

Time  allowed,  j  hours 

Answer  question  i  and  any  five  of  the  remainder.    Questions 
2-10  carry  equal  marks 

1.  Either — Consider  the  chief  statistical  difficulties  in  deter- 

mining the  quantity  of  metallic  money  in  a  country. 
Give  some  account  of  the  attempts  that  have  been  made 
to  estimate  the  metallic  circulation  in  (i)  The  United 
Kingdom,  (2)  India. 
Or — Compare  the  more  important  methods  that  have  been 
employed  for  the  purpose  of  measuring  the  relative 
standard  of  comfort  of  the  working  classes  (i)  in  dif- 
ferent countries,  (2)  at  different  periods  in  the  same 
country. 

2.  "  There  is  nothing  in  the  laws  of  value  which  remains  for 

the  present  or  any  future  writer  to  clear  up ;  the  theory 
of  the  subject  is  complete." 
Indicate  the  leading  features  of  the  theory  of  value  thus 
accepted  by  J.  S.  Mill ;  and  notice  the  several  distinct 
lines  on  which  it  has  been  criticised  by  later  economists. 

3.  Sketch  broadly  the  organisation  of  the  modern  "Produce" 

market.  How  would  you  estimate  the  effect  of  dealings 
in  "  Futures  "  on  the  price  fluctuations  of  the  commo- 
dity dealt  in? 


301  ] 


APPENDIX  C  301 


4.  "  Money  is  a  creation  of  the  State." 

Critically  examine  this  dictum,  with  special  reference  to 

(a)  The  selection  of  the  money  material,  (b)  its  bear- 
ing on  the  "  cost "  and  the  "  quantity  "  theories  of  the 
value  of  money. 

5.  The  essential  characteristics  of  a  good  currency  system 

are  (i)  stability,  (2)  elasticity.  Explain  clearly  what  is 
meant  by  each  of  these  qualities,  and  consider  how  far 
they  are  secured  under  the  actual  currency  systems  of 
any  two  of  the  following  countries:— (0)  Great  Britain, 

(b)  France,  (c)  Germany,  (d)  The  United  States. 

6.  Discuss  carefully  (a)  the  causes,  (&)  the  consequences  of 

an  export  of  capital.  To  what  extent  is  the  growth  of 
dealings  in  international  securities  connected  with  the 
international  movement  of  capital? 

7.  Compare  the  different  views  that  have  been  taken  respect- 

ing the  advantages  of  foreign  trade.  In  particular  ex- 
amine the  following  statements : — 

( 1 )  "  The  only  direct  advantage  of  foreign  com- 
merce consists  in  the  imports." 

(2)  "In  gauging  the  advantages  which  a  country 
secures  from  international  trade,  we  should  look  prim- 
arily to  the  range  and  the  variations  of  money  in- 
comes." 

8.  Trace  fully  the  incidence  and  effects  of  one  of  the  follow- 

ing taxes : — 

(a)  An   export   duty  on   raw   cotton   leaving  the 

United  States. 

(6)  An   import   duty   on   petroleum   entering  the 

United  Kingdom. 

(c)  An  ad  valorem  stamp  duty  on  the  transfer  of 
securities. 

9.  Contrast  the  chief  characteristics  of  central  and  local  tax- 

ation. 
Describe  the  various  modes  in  which  the  two  systems  may 
be  correlated,  and  estimate  the  advantages  of  each  mode. 


302  APPENDIX  C  [302 

10.  Under  what  conditions  is  borrowing  on  the  part  of  the 
State  admissible  ? 
Explain  the  following  terms  employed  in  connection  with 
debt  operations: — Conversion;  Floating  Debt;  Sinking 
Fund;  Terminable  Annuity, 


Political  Science.    Paper  i 

Time  allowed,  j  hours 

Answer  any  six  questions.    All  the  questions  carry  equal  marks. 

1.  Either — Sketch    and   criticise    any    Ideal    Commonwealth 

that  has  been  suggested  by  philosophers. 
Or — State  and  comment  upon  the  actual  origin  of  Com- 
monwealths as  conceived  (a)  by  Hobbes,  {b)  by  Her- 
bert Spencer. 

2.  State  and  explain  the  origins  (o)  of  customs,  and  (&)  of 

laws;  and  give,  together  with  your  reasons,  the  true  re- 
lation between  customs  and  laws. 

3.  Discuss,  with  due  reference  to  authorities,  the  reality  and 

meaning  of  Natural  Law.  Also  indicate  briefly  its  re- 
lation, if  any,  to  the  Moral  Law,  the  Civil  Law,  and  In- 
ternational Law. 

4.  Discuss  the  right  of  a  majority  of  the  electorate  to  make 

fundamental  changes  (a)  in  the  Civil  Law,  (h)  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  Government  of  a  given  State. 

5.  "  The  course  of  Civilisation  is  properly  to  be  regarded  as 

one,  though  many  particular  civilisations  have  perished." 
"  The  precedence  given  in  the  Judicature  Act  of  1873  to 
the  principles  of  Equity  over  the  principles  of  the  Com- 
mon Law,  marks  the  final  triumph  of  Roman  jurispru- 
dence over  the  customs  of  the  nations  by  whom  the 
Roman  Empire  was  overthrown." 
Explain  and  comment  on  each  of  these  statements, 

6.  Modern  society,  it  has  been  said,  rests  mainly  upon  prop- 

erty and  contract.  Explain,  and  point  out  the  limita- 
tions, if  any,  in  each  case. 


-,Q^-j  APPENDIX  C  303 

7.  Give  in  outline  the  method  and  fundamental  principles  em- 

ployed in  political  speculation  by  any  tzvo  of  the  follow- 
ing :— T.  H.  Green ;  Henry  Sidgwick ;  Rousseau ;  Burke, 

8.  Distinguish  Private  and  Public  Law,  giving  the  chief  de- 

partments of  each;  and  explain  fully  why  the  former 
tends  to  be  nearly  the  same  in  all  civilised  communities. 

9.  Define  the  following  conceptions,  and  point  out  their  re- 

lations (if  any)  to  each  other: — Sociology,  Social  Evo- 
lution, History  of  Civilisation,  Philosophy  of  History, 
Philosophy  of  Right. 

10.  How  far  does  a  society  resemble  an  organism,  statically 

viewed?  How  far  does  it  pass  through  similar  stages  of 
growth  and  decay,  dynamically  viewed?  In  what  im- 
portant respects  does  the  analogy  fail  in  each  case  ? 

11.  Explain  briefly  how  the  geographical  situation  of  England 

has  influenced  her  (a)  political,  (b)  economic  history. 

12.  Discuss  fully  the  statement,  that  it  is  of  importance  to 

Great  Britain  that  the  rights  of  belligerents,  rather  than 
the  rights  of  neutrals,  should  be  wide. 

Political  Science.    P.\per  2 

Time  allowed,  3  hours 

Answer  question  i,  and  any  five  of  the  remaining  questions. 
Questions  2  to  12  carry  equal  marks;  question  i  carries 
higher  marks. 

I.  Explain,  and  briefly  comment  upon,  any  four  of  the  fol- 
lowing quotations : — 

(3)  Aristotle,  in  his  political  philosophy,  made 
ample  provision  for  the  claims  of  intellect,  but  none 
for  the  rights  of  man. 

(4)  A  multitude  of  men  are  made  one  person  when 
they  are  by  one  person  represented, 

(5)  Quel  que  soit  le  vrai  principe  de  la  propriete, 
ce  que  Ton  doit  admirer  dans  Locke,  c'est  avoir  etabli 
que  ce  principe  est  anterieur  a  la  loi  civile. 


304  APPENDIX  C  [304 

(6)  A  r instant  que  le  gouvernement  usurpe  la  sou- 
verainete,  le  pacta  social  est  rompu ;  et  tous  les  simples 
citoyens,  rentres  de  droit  dans  leur  liberte  naturelle, 
sont  forces  mais  non  pas  obliges  d'obeir. 

(7)  The  speculations  of  the  eighteenth  century  con- 
cerning mankind  in  a  state  of  nature  are  not  unfairly 
summed  up  in  the  doctrine  that  "  in  the  primitive  so- 
ciety property  was  nothing,  and  obligation  everything" 
...  if  the  proposition  were  reversed,  it  would  be 
nearer  the  reality. 

(8)  In  this  partnership  [society]  all  men  have 
equal  rights,  but  not  to  equal  things. 

(9)  Starting  from  anti- Jacobin  premises,  Ben- 
tham's  logic  led  him  to  Jacobin  conclusions. 

(10)  The  difference  between  civil  and  political 
rights  is  essential — a  person's  claim  to  govern  him- 
self is  a  totally  different  thing  from  his  claim  to  gov- 
ern others. 

2.  Trace  the  part  played  by  the  lawyer  in  political  theory,  in 

ancient  or  in  modern  times. 

3.  Compare  the  different  kinds  of  answers  that  have  been 

given  in  ancient  or  modern  theories  of  democracy  to  the 
question  of  the  place  to  be  assigned  to  the  specialist  ex- 
pert in  the  determinations  and  execution  of  social  policy. 

4.  "  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  deduce  the  science  of  govern- 

ment from  the  principles  of  human  nature." 
"  The  study  of  human  nature  by  the  psychologists  has  ad- 
vanced enormously  since  the  discovery  of  human  evolu- 
tion, but  it  has  advanced  without  affecting  or  being  af- 
fected by  the  study  of  politics." 
Consider  these  statements  in  their  bearing  upon  the  rela- 
tion between  political  science  and  psychology. 

5.  Examine  the  conception  of  "  a  right  to  work  ",  whether 

from  the  point  of  view  of  theory  or  of  practice. 

6.  Consider,  and  illustrate  with  reference  to  any  proposed 

legislation,  the  extent  to  which  comparative  study  of 
politics  is  of  practical  value. 


305]  APPENDIX  C  305 

7.  Consider  some  of  the  modern  problems  raised  by  the  right 

of  association. 

8.  Sketch  the  history  and  examine  the  significance  of  the  per- 

manent Civil  Service  in  English  constitutional  develop- 
ment. In  what  respect  does  the  English  system  contrast 
favourably  or  unfavourably  with  that  of  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice in  other  countries  ? 

9.  Describe  the  structure  and  functions  of  local  government 

in  England,  with  special  reference  to  the  proposal  to 
transfer  the  various  functions  of  the  English  Poor  Law 
from  boards  of  guardians  elected  ad  hoc  to  county  or 
county  borough  councils. 

10.  "  The  modern  development  of  representative  institutions 

has  done  little  but  illustrate  the  general  inability  of 
democratic  institutions  to  express  the  general  will."  Dis- 
cuss this  dictum  whether  as  a  statement  of  fact  or  as  the 
statement  of  a  problem. 

11.  "  The  end  of  [ethics  or]  politics  is  not  the  greatest  happi- 

ness of  the  greatest  number.  Your  happiness  is  of  no 
use  to  the  community,  except  in  so  far  as  it  tends  to 
make  you  a  more  efficient  citizen."  Examine  this  state- 
ment in  reference  to  its  political  and  legislative  bearings. 

12.  Estimate  critically  the  political  philosophy  of  either  Hegel 

or  Comte. 


APPENDIX  D 
Intermediate  Division 

SALARY 

Results  of  the  Examinations  of  19 lo.     Subjects  and  Marks, 
and  Specimens  of  Papers  Set  in  ipii 

The  usual  scale  of  pay  is  £100 — £10 — £200,  £200 — £15 — 
£350,  with  provision  for  promotion  to  staff  offices,  for  extra 
pay,  and  for  allowances  when  serving  abroad,  e.  g.,  in  the  Ad- 
miralty Dockyards  and  Naval  Yards. 

The  revised  scheme  which  was  introduced  in  1906  has  now 
been  adopted  for  the  examination  of  candidates  for  the  follow- 
ing Departments,  viz. : — Admiralty,  Junior  Appointments  in 
the  Supply  and  Accounting  Departments;  Crown  Agents  for 
the  Colonies,  Class  III.  Clerkships;  Ecclesiastical  Commis- 
sion, Junior  Qerkships;  Exchequer  and  Audit  Department, 
Examinerships ;  Inland  Revenue  Department,  Assistant  Sur- 
veyorships  of  Taxes  and  Second  Class  Clerkships  in  the  Estate 
Duty  Offices,  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin;  Metropolitan 
Police,  Second  Class  Clerkships  in  the  Commissioner's  Office 
and  Second  Class  Clerkships  in  the  Receiver's  Office;  War 
Office,  Junior  Appointments  in  the  Royal  Ordnance  Factories. 

Two  competitions  were  held  in  1910  for  this  group  of  situa- 
tions. In  July,  out  of  380  effective  competitors,  30  received 
appointments.  The  examination  held  in  December  was  at- 
tended by  310  candidates.  When  the  results  were  declared 
(early  in  the  present  year),  there  were  20  vacancies  existing; 
ultimately  the  total  of  those  successful  was  raised  to  25.^ 

1  Cf.  Fifty-fifth  Report  and  other  recent  publications  of  the  CivU 
Service  Commissioners,  passim. 

306  [306 


307]  APPENDIX  D  307 

In  191 1,  334  qualified  and  25  were  appointed. 

1.  The  limits  of  age  for  these  situations  are  18  and  19^^, 
the  half-year  being  reckoned  by  calendar  months.  If  an  ex- 
amination commences  in  one  of  the  first  seven  months  of  any 
year  Candidates  must  be  of  the  prescribed  age  on  the  first  of 
May  of  that  year.  If  an  examination  commences  in  one  of  the 
last  five  months  of  any  year,  Candidates  must  be  of  the  pre- 
scribed age  on  the  ist  of  November  of  that  year. 

2.  The  following  are  the  subjects  of  examination: 

Class  I. 

Marks 

Mathematics  1 2,000 

English   2,000 

Class  II. — (Lower  Standard.) 

Mathematics  II 2,000 

French    2,000 

German  2,000 

Physics  4,000 

Latin   2,000 

■Greek    2,000 

History  (English)    2,000 

Chemistry    2,000 

Physics   2,000 

Class  III. — (Higher  Standard.) 

Mathematics  III 4,000 

French    4,000 

German    4,000 

Latin    4,000 

Greek    4,000 

History   (English  and  European)    4,000 

Chemistry    4,000 

Both  the  subjects  in  Class  I.  must  be  taken  up.  No  Candi- 
date will  be  eligible  who  fails  to  pass  a  qualifying  examination 
in  Arithmetic  and  English. 

From  Classes  II.  and  III.  Candidates  may  select  subjects, 
one  of  which  must  be  a  language,  carrying  marks  up  to  a  maxi- 
mum of  10,000,  making  with  the  subjects  in  Class  I.,  14,000  in 


^q3  appendix  d  [308 

all.     The  same  subject  may  not  be  selected  both  in  Class  II. 

and  in  Class  III. 

****** 

4,  A  fee  of  i3  will  be  required  from  each  Candidate  attend- 
ing an  Examination. 

Examination  Papers 

English  History.     Class  III 

PERIOD  2. — A.  D.    1485  TO   I9OI 

Answer  the  question  in  Section  A,  three  questions  in  Section 
B,  and  three  questions  in  Section  C.  All  the  questions 
carry  equal  marks. 

Section  A 

1.  (a)  Draw  a  map  of  the  Low  Countries  at  the  outset  of 

the  Spanish  Succession  War,  and  mark  on  it  the  places 
where  English  troops  were  engaged  during  the  war. 
{h)  Describe  the  difficulties  encountered  by  Marlborough, 
while  general,  other  than  those  of  actual  fighting. 

Section  B 

2.  In  what  ways  did  the  rule  of  Henry  VII  benefit  commerce 

and  the  middle  classes  in  England? 

3.  How  far  was  the  type  of  rule  applied  by  Henry  VIII  ad- 

hered to,  and  how  far  departed  from,  under  Elizabeth? 

4.  Is  there  evidence  in  James  I's  reign  that  a  struggle  for  sov- 

ereignty in  the  constitution  was  then  proceeding? 

5.  Show  how  considerations  of  religion  influenced  politics 

within  England  between  1644  and  1653. 

6.  Compare  the  foreign  policy  of  England  under  Cromwell 

with  that  under  Elizabeth. 

7.  When,  and  to  what  extent,  in  Charles  H's  reign  did  foreign 

relations  influence  home  politics. 

Section  C 

8.  Burke  said  of  the  Revolution  that  it  was  a  revolution  "pre- 

vented, not  made."    Is  this  true  of  the  Revolution  judged 
by  its  results  before  the  close  of  William  Ill's  reign? 


309]  APPENDIX  D  309 

9.  Does  Walpole  rank  as  a  great  British  statesijian,  or  merely 
as  a  successful  finance-minister? 

10.  Trace  and  explain  the  relations  of  Britain  with  Austria 

and  Prussia  between  1740  and  1757. 

11.  How  did   (a)    George  III,   (Z?)    Burke  and    (c)    Charles 

James  Fox  view  the  royal  prerogative? 

12.  Write  an  account  of  the  National  Debt,  including  its  ad- 

ministration, since  1783. 

13.  Write  (a)  an  estimate  of  the  foreign  policy  of  Canning, 

and  (&)  an  account  of  the  beginnings  of  the  movement 
for  "  Imperial  Federation." 

European  History.     Class  III 

PERIOD  3. — A.  D.    1 5 19  TO   I9OI 

Answer  the  question  in  Section  A,  three  questions  out  of  Sec- 
tion B,  and  three  questions  out  of  Section  C.  All  the  ques- 
tions carry  equal  marks. 

Section  A 

1.  (a)   How  was  the  development  of  Prussia  in  the  eigh- 

teenth century,  down  to  Frederick  IPs  death,  affected 
by  her  geographical  conditions? 
(&)   By  means  of  a  sketch-map  show  what  her  functions 
were  (a)  in  171 5,  and  (&)  at  the  close  of  1772. 

Section  B 

2.  Compare  Lutheranism  and  Calvinism  in  their  attitude  to 

the  civil  power,  and  give  illustrations. 

3.  Compare  the  international  position  and  power  of  Spain  at 

the  following  times: — 1572;  1598;  1618. 

4.  Describe   and   comment  upon   the   attitude   of   Richelieu 

toward  the  Huguenots. 

5.  Expound  and  criticise  the  economic  policy  of  Colbert,  and 

briefly  compare  it  with  that  of  Sully. 

6.  Show  (a)  the  part  taken  by  William  of  Orange  in  inter- 

national affairs  before  he  was  invited  to  England,  and 
(&)  the  Continental  situation,  as  affecting  his  interests, 
at  the  time  of  his  acceptance  of  the  invitation. 


3IO  APPENDIX  D  [310 

7.  To  what  extent  was  the  development  of  Russia  under 

Peter  the  Great  promoted  by  the  condition  of  neigh- 
bouring States? 

8.  Examine  the  influence  of  the  theory  of  the  Divine  Right  of 

Kings  during  the  seventeenth  century  in  Continental 
Europe. 

Section  C 

9.  How  was  the  European  situation  affected  by  the  death  of 

Louis  XIV? 

10.  What  were  the  circumstances  that  led  to  the  formation  of 

the  Family  Compact?  How  far  was  the  Compact  ef- 
fective during  the  eighteenth  century? 

11.  Consider  the  importance  of  the  reign  of  Catherine  H  as 

affecting  (a)  Russia,  and  {h)  other  European  States. 

12.  On  what  grounds,  and  to  what  extent,  may  Napoleon  be 

deemed  a  statesman? 

13.  Show  how  the  arrangements  made  by  the  Congress  of 

Vienna  were  responsible  for  subsequent  disturbances. 

14.  What  was  the  significance  of  (a)  the  part  taken  by  Sar- 

dinians in  the  Crimean  War,  and  (&)  the  formation  of 
the  North  German  Confederation? 

15.  Write  notes  on  four  of  the  following: — Rousseau's  Con- 

trat  Social ;  "  Sovereignty  resides  essentially  in  the  na- 
tion "  ;  "  the  Hundred  Days  "  ;  the  Ausgleich  ;  the  Dual 
Control  in  Egypt. 

French  Essay.    Class  HI 

Time  allowed,  i  hour 

Write  in  French  between  200  and  300  words  on  one  of  the 
following  subjects: — 

1.  Rural  depopulation  in  Britain. 

2.  The  qualities  necessary  in  the  perfect  statesman. 

3.  "  A   foot-ball  match  and  a  bull-fight  are  equally  noble, 
equally  brutal." 


21 1  ]  APPENDIX  D  311 

English  Essay.    Class  I 
Time  allowed,  2  hours 
Select  one  of  the  following  subjects: 

1.  The  transformation  made  in  our  daily  life  by  applied  sci- 

ence during  the  past  century.     Is  it  entirely  whole- 
some. 

2.  "  He  that  wrestles  with  us  strengthens  our  nerves  and 

sharpens  our  skill.     Our  antagonist  is  our  helper." — 
Edmund  Burke. 
Write  an  essay  on  the  truth  of  this. 

3.  "  The  fickle  herd."     Discuss  the  changeability  of  public 

opinion. 


APPENDIX  E 

Second  Division  Clerkships  ^ 

Results  of  the  Examinations  of  19 lo.     Subjects  and  Marks, 
and  Specimens  of  Papers  Set  in  igii 

Second  Division  Clerks  are  now  employed  in  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  Departments  of  the  Civil  Service. 

An  open  competition  for  Second  Division  Clerkships  was 
held  in  September,  1,716  candidates  competing  for  100  ap- 
pointments. 2 

The  entire  number  of  assignments  of  Second  Division  Clerks 
for  service  since  the  date  (12th  February,  1876)  of  the  Order 
in  Council  which  created  the  Division  was,  at  the  end  of  last 
year,  14,120,  including  1,108  exceptionally  appointed,  chiefly 
from  the  class  of  Temporary  Copyists  and  from  Abstractors. 

One  hundred  and  eleven  Second  Division  Clerks  were  trans- 
ferred from  one  Department  to  another  in  1910.  Ninety-eight 
of  these  Clerks  had  been  declared  redundant  in  the  Savings 
Bank  Department  of  the  Post  Office.  The  entire  number  of 
such  transfers  since  the  Order  in  Council  of  February,  1876, 
is  1,011. 

There  were  no  cases  in  1910  of  the  rejection  of  a  Second 
Division  Clerk  on  probation. 

Under  the  Order  in  Council  Second  Division  Clerks  are  al- 
lowed to  name  the  Departments  in  which  they  would  prefer 

1  For  salary,  see  Appendix  A. 

2  100  further  appointments  were  made  following  the  31st  December, 
1910,  from  the  results  of  that  examination. 

As  a  result  of  the  Sept.,  191 1  competition,  there  were  100  initial  ap- 
pointments out  of  2016  candidates. 

312  [312 


313]  APPENDIX  E  313 

to  serve,  and  it  was  found  to  be  possible  last  year  to  give  effect 
to  these  preferences  in  a  large  majority  of  cases.^ 

On  the  i8th  of  September,  191 1,  and  following  days,  an 
Open  Competitive  Examination  will  be  held  in  London,  Edin- 
burgh, Dublin,  Bedford,  Birmingham.  Bristol,  Cardiff,  Leeds, 
Liverpool,  Manchester,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Nottingham,  Ply- 
mouth, Southampton,  Aberdeen,  Dundee,  Glasgow,  Belfast, 
Cork,  and  Limerick,  under  the  subjoined  Regulations,  at  which 
Examinations  not  fewer  than  100  candidates  will  be  selected 
for  Clerkships  in  the  Second  Division  of  the  Civil  Service,  pro- 
vided they  satisfy  the  Civil  Service  Commissioners  that  they 

are  duly  qualified. 

****** 

Civil  Service  Commission, 
4th  July,  191 1. 

1.  The  limits  of  age  are  17  and  20.  If  an  examination 
begins  in  one  of  the  first  six  months  of  any  year,  candidates 
must  be  of  the  prescribed  age  on  the  first  day  of  March  in  that 
year.  If  an  examination  begins  in  one  of  the  last  six  months 
of  any  year,  candidates  must  be  of  the  prescribed  age  on  the 
first  day  of  September  in  that  year. 

2.  The  subjects  of  examination  will  be  as  follows: — 

1.  Handwriting    and    Orthography,    including    Copying 

Manuscripts — 600. 

2.  Arithmetic — 600. 

3.  English  Composition — 600. 

4.  Precis,  including  Indexing  and  Digest  of  Returns — 

400. 

5.  Book-keeping  and  Shorthand  Writing — 400. 

6.  Geography  and  English  History — 400. 

7.  Latin  (translation  from  the  language,  and  composi- 

tion)— 400. 

8.  French  (translation  from  the  language,  and  compo- 

sition)— 400. 

*  Cf.  Fifty-Hfth  Report  and  other  recent  publications  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commissioners,  passim. 


^j  .  APPENDIX  E  [314 

9.  German  (translation  from  the  language,  and  compo- 
sition)— 400. 
N.B, — Only  two  of  these  three  languages  may  he  taken  up. 

10.  Elementary  Mathematics — 400. 

11.  Inorganic  Chemistry,  with  Elements  of  Physics — 400. 
N.B. — Not  more  than  four  of  the  subjects  numbered  4  ^0  11 

may  be  offered. 

Thus  the  highest  possible  total  is  3400.^ 

****** 

3.  Service  marks  *  *  *  may  be  allowed  to  candidates  attend- 
ing examination  who  are  serving  or  have  served  as  Registered 

Boy  Clerks  or  Boy  Copyists  *  *  *. 

****** 

5.  A  fee  of  i2  will  be  required  from  every  candidate  at- 
tending an  Examination, 

Examination  Papers 

Geography 
Time  alloived,  2  hours 

SECTION    II. — dark    brown    BOOK 

Answer  any  three  questions  in  this  section  in  the  Dark  Brown 
Book  provided 

1.  From  what  countries  does  Great  Britain  import  tea,  coffee 

and  rice?  Describe  the  geographical  conditions  favour- 
able to  the  growth  of  each  of  these  in  the  countries  from 
which  they  come. 

2.  Give  examples   (one  of  each  type)    of  regions    (a)   with 

summer  rainfall,  (b)  with  winter  rainfall,  (c)  with  rain- 
fall at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  In  each  case  give  what  ex- 
planations you  can. 

'  In  191 1,  changes  were  made  in  this  scheme,  and  hereafter  Ele- 
mentary Mathematics  and  a  foreign  language  are  practically  com- 
pulsory, while  book-keeping  and  stenography  are  optional.  It  is 
hoped  by  these  changes  to  attract  the  best  Secondary  School  boys 
without  recourse  to  cramming  schools. 


315]  APPENDIX  E  315 

3.  Describe  the  ocean  currents  of  the  North  Atlantic  Basin, 

and  illustrate  your  description  by  a  sketch-map. 

4.  Discuss  the  distribution  of  the  fishing  centres  of  the  United 

Kingdom. 

SECTION  II. — PURPLE  BOOK 

Answer  any  three  of  the  remaining  questions  in  the  PurpU 
Book  provided 

5.  Describe  and  explain  the  characteristic  vegetation  of  either 

the  countries  bordering  upon  the  Mediterranean  or  that 
part  of  North  America  between  the  looth  meridian  of 
west  longitude  and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

6.  Discuss  the  more  important  geographical  causes  which  lead 

to  the  foundation  and  growth  of  towns.  Illustrate  your 
answer  by  reference  to  towns  in  Great  Britain  and  North 
America. 

7.  Describe  and  compare  various  methods  by  which  altitude 

can  be  indicated  upon  a  map.  Draw  maps  of  a  moun- 
tainous island  to  illustrate  each  of  the  methods  you  de- 
scribe. 

8.  On  the  map  of  the  North  of  Ireland  supplied  to  you  indi- 

cate and  name  the  principal  upland  regions,  and  the  Bann, 
the  Foyle  and  the  Lagan.  Mark,  without  boundaries,  the 
situation  of  the  counties  of  Donegal,  Down  and  Tyrone, 
and  show  the  position  of  Drogheda,  Dundalk,  Newry  and 
Sligo.  Insert  the  railway  route  from  Belfast  to  London- 
derry. 


History 
Time  allowed,  2  hours 

Section  I. — Answer  three  questions  in  this  Section  in  the  Light 
Blue  Book  provided 
I.  Show  how  the  Danelaw  came  into  existence,  how  it  varied 
in  extent,  and  why  it  is  important  in  the  history  of  Eng- 
land. 


2i6  APPENDIX  E  [316 

2.  Compare  the  Parliament  of   1295    (a)    with   Simon   de 

Montfort's  Parhament  in  respect  of  composition,  and 
(&)  with  Parliament  at  the  close  of  Edward  Ill's  reign 
in  respect  of  powers. 

3.  Give  evidence  of  the  growth  of  the  material  prosperity 

of  England  in  the  fourteenth  century. 

4.  Was  Richard  Neville,  Earl  of  Warwick,  moved  in  his 

career  rather  by  political  than  by  personal  considera- 
tions ? 

5.  How  far  was  the  policy  of  Wolsey  continued,  and  how 

far  departed  from,  after  his  death,  by  Henry  VHI  and 
Thomas  Cromwell? 

6.  Compare  the  England  of  1603  with  the  England  of  1558 

in  respect  of  (a)  national  unity  and  (&)  international 
prestige. 

Section  II. — Answer  three  questions  in  this  Section  in  the 
Scarlet  Book  provided 

Candidates  must  answer  at  least  one  of  the  questions  marked 
with  an  asterisk 

*7.  State  the  geographical  position  of  seven  of  the  following, 
and  the  connection  of  each  of  the  seven  with  the  his- 
tory of  England : — Arras  ;  Cintra  ;  Delhi ;  Kenilworth ; 
Lagos ;  Namur ;  Ravenspur ;  Stamford  Bridge ;  Wall- 
ingford. 

8.  In  what  respects  did  the  reign  of  James  I  depart  from 

the  political  traditions  of  Elizabeth's  reign;  and  with 
what  immediate  consequences? 

9.  Show  the  connection  of   (a)   Scotland  and   ih)   Ireland 

with  the  political  situation  in  England  during  1638-42. 

10.  Compare  the   Restoration   and  the  Revolution  in  their 

bearings  on  the  relative  powers  of  King  and  Parlia- 
ment. 

11.  How  far  does  Walpole's  policy  seem  to  you  to  be  justified 

or  to  be  condemned  by  events  between  his  fall  and  the 
close  of  the  reign  of  George  II? 


317]  APPENDIX  E  317 

*I2.  Describe  the  struggle  with  the  American  colonies  in  1777 
and  in  1780-81,  and  illustrate  your  answer  with  two 
sketch-maps. 
13.  Whom  do  you  consider  to  be,  among  British  statesmen, 
(a)  the  greatest  War  Minister  of  the  i8th  and  19th 
centuries,  {b)  the  greatest  political  thinker  of  the  iSth 
century,  and  (c)  the  greatest  Finance  Minister  of  the 
19th  century? 
Concisely  give  your  reasons  for  your  selection  in  each 
case. 


APPENDIX  F 

Specimens  of  Examinations  for  Boy  Clerkships  and  Girl 
Clerkships  in  the  Post  Office 

BOY   clerkships'   EXAMINATION  OF   JANUARY,    I9II 

English  Composition  (Paper  i). — Time  allowed,  i  hour 

Choose  one  of  the  following  subjects: — 

1.  Electricity  is  modern  Life. 

2.  If  you  had  a  fortnight's  holiday  to  spend  without  sleep- 
ing away  from  home,  how  would  you  spend  it? 

3.  Write  a  letter  to  a  friend  describing  the  advantages  and 
disadvantages  of  being  a  Boy  Scout.  Do  not  sign  your  letter 
with  your  own  name. 

English  Composition  (Paper  2). — Time  allowed,  i  hour 

1.  In  the  following  extracts  correct  all  errors,  giving  your 
reasons  for  each  correction  you  make: — (a)  It  pays  one  some- 
times to  change  our  mode  of  living,  (b)  I  didn't  used  to  got 
up  before  six  o'clock,  (c)  I  received  your  welcome  letter  this 
morning,  and  is  very  glad  you  are  going  to  pay  my  wife  and  I 
a  visit. 

2.  Rewrite  the  following  passages  (without  commenting  on 
them),  so  as  to  bring  out  clearly  the  meaning  of  the  writers : — 
(a)  The  Victoria  Cross  has  been  gained  by  many  soldiers  who 
have  risked  their  own  lives  in  order  to  simply  get  one  of  their 
own.  (h)  Mr.  Brown  has  left  off  clothing  of  every  descrip- 
tion and  wishes  to  purchase  same.  Distance  no  object,  keep- 
ing our  own  conveyance,  (c)  Still  a  greater  danger  is  attached 
to  a  policemans  life,  in  the  performance  of  that  duty  known 
as  they  arresting  of  Lunatics  as  they  are  always  in  receipt  of 

318  [318 


319]  APPENDIX  F  319 

some  deadly  weapon,  so  the  policeman,  is  then,  their  pray,  and 
receives  severe  punishment  from  there  hands. 

3.  Express  in  your  own  words  the  substance  of  the  follow- 
ing verses : — 

The  Sailor's  Consolation 

One  night  came  on  a  hurricane, 

The  sea  was  mountains  rolling, 
When  Barney  Buntline  slewed  his  quid.^ 

And  said  to  Billy  Bowline : 
"  A  strong  nor'-wester's  blowing,  Bill, 

Hark!  don't  ye  hear  it  roar  now? 
Lord  help  'em,  how  I  pities  them 

Unhappy  folks  on  shore  now. 

"  Foolhardy  chaps  as  live  in  towns, 

What  danger  they  are  all  in, 
And  now  lie  quaking  in  their  beds, 

For  fear  the  roof  should  fall  in! 
Poor  creatures,  how  they  envies  us, 

And  wishes,  I've  a  notion, 
For  our  good  luck  in  such  a  storm, 

To  be  upon  the  ocean ! 

"  And  as  for  them  that's  out  all  day. 

On  business  from  their  houses. 

And  late  at  night  returning  home. 

To  cheer  their  babes  and  spouses; 
While  you  and  I,  Bill,  on  the  deck 

Are  comfortably  lying. 
My  eyes !     What  tiles  and  chimney-pots 
•        About  their  heads  are  flying ! 

"  Both  you  and  I  have  oft-times  heard 

How  men  are  killed  and  undone, 
By  over-turns  from  carriages, 

By  thieves  and  fire  in  London. 
We  knows  what  risks  these  landsmen  run, 

From  noblemen  to  tailors ; 
Then,  Bill,  let  us  thank  Providence 

That  you  and  I  are  sailors." 

^  Shifted  his  chew  of  tobacco. 


220  APPENDIX  F  [320 

Geography. — Time  allowed,  2  hours 

[All  questions  carry  equal  marks.  Work  shown  up  in  the 
wrong  book  will  not  receive  full  credit.  Sketch-maps  should 
be  drawn  to  illustrate  the  answers  where  possible.] 

Section  I. — Purple  Book 

Answer  any  three  questions  in  this  Section 

1.  Draw  an  outline  map  of  S.  America,  marking  the  Equator 
and  one  meridian  of  longitude.  Name,  without  inserting 
boundaries,  Peru,  Brazil,  British  Guiana,  the  Selvas.  Insert 
and  name  the  Andes,  the  rivers  Amazon  and  Orinoco,  and  the 
towns  Para,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Valparaiso,  Buenos  Aires  and 
Bahia. 

2.  (a)  The  Ancient  Greek  mariners  used  to  make  an  annual 
voyage  to  India  from  the  mouth  of  the  Red  Sea.  At  what 
time  of  the  year  would  they  make  their  outward  and  home- 
ward voyages  respectively  so  as  to  obtain  favourable  winds? 
(&)  What  are  the  two  important  wind  systems  of  the  North 
Atlantic  Ocean?  How  would  a  sailing  ship  shape  her  course 
so  as  to  make  use  of  these  winds  on  a  voyage  from  Spain  to 
the  West  Indies  and  back  ? 

3.  In  what  parts  of  the  world  are  the  following  occupations 
carried  on  on  a  large  scale:  (a)  cattle-ranching,  (&)  wheat- 
growing,  ic)  fur-collecting.  In  what  ways  are  these  occupa- 
tions determined  by  local  geographical  conditions  ? 

4.  Describe  as  fully  as  you  can  the  vegetation  and  scenery 
of  the  Alps  of  Switzerland.  Mention  any  important  occupa- 
tions of  the  Swiss  people,  and  show  how  far  they  are  deter- 
mined by  geographical  conditions. 

Girl  Clerkships'  Examination  of  October,  1910 
geography. — section  ii. — dark  brown  book 
Answer  any  three  of  the  following  questions 

5.  Give  an  account  of  the  economic  products,  communica- 
tions, and  chief  ports  of  China  Proper. 


22 1  ]  APPENDIX  F  321 

6.  Write  notes  on  the  position  and  importance  of  the  follow- 
ing towns  : — Philadelphia,  New  Orleans,  Chicago,  Denver,  Bir- 
mingham (U.  S.  A.). 

7.  Describe  briefly  the  regions  passed  through  on  a  journey 
from  Montreal  to  New  Westminster  by  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,  and  mention  the  characteristic  industries  and  occu- 
pations of  the  inhabitants  of  each  region. 

8.  According  to  a  recent  estimate  the  surface  of  the  United 
Kingdom  may  be  divided  as  follows : — 

Upland  Pasture, 
Cultivated  Permanent  Woodland  and  Unproductivt 

Land.  Pasture.  Land. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

England 2Z-2>  42-3  24.4 

Wales 16.8  41-6  ^1.6 

Scotland 176  7-4  750 

Ireland 17 -S  56.2  26.3 

Show  how  far  these  figures  may  be  explained  by  the  differ- 
ences in  the  climate,  relief,  and  soils  of  the  four  countries. 


APPENDIX  G 

Specimens  of  First  Grade  General  Clerical  Examina- 
tions FOR  the  United  States  Civil  Service* 


Compare  with  preceding  English  examinations.  Every  second  class 
clerk,  and  even  the  boy  clerks  in  England,  would  scorn  such  examina- 
tions as  tests  of  education.  Note  that  the  American  geography  and 
government  questions  ask  for  facts  which  have  been  memorized; 
while  the  English  geography  and  history  questions  require  considerable 
knowledge  and  thought. 


Sec.  39.  First-grade  Subjects. — i.  Spelling:  Twenty 
words  of  more  than  average  difficulty.  2.  Arithmetic:  Fun- 
damental rules,  fractions,  percentage,  interest,  discount,  analy- 
sis, and  statement  of  simple  accounts.  3.  Penmanship:  Rated 
on  legibility,  rapidity,  neatness,  and  general  appearance.  4. 
Report  writing:  Test  in  writing  in  letter  form  a  report  not 
more  than  200  words  in  length,  summarizing  and  arranging  in 
logical  order  a  series  of  facts  included  in  a  given  statement  of 
400  or  500  words.  5.  Copying  and  correcting  manuscript  : 
Test  in  making  a  smooth,  corrected  copy  of  a  draft  of  manu- 
script which  includes  erasures,  misspelled  words,  errors  in  syn- 
tax, etc.  6.  Geography  and  civil  government  of  the 
United  States. 

The  following  questions  and  tests,  which  have  been  used,  in- 
dicate the  general  character  of  these  subjects: 

Spelling. — Spelling  is  dictated  by  the  examiner.  The  words 
are  written  by  the  competitor  in  the  blank  spaces  indicated  on 
the  first  sheet  of  the  examination.  All  words  should  be  com- 
menced with  capital  letters.     The  examiner  pronounces  each 

^  Manual  of  Examumtion,  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission, 
Washington,  1912. 

322  [322 


223]  APPENDIX  G  323 

word  and  gives  its  definition  as  printed  below.     The  competi- 
tor is  required  to  write  only  the  word  and  not  its  definition. 

Cylinder:  A  long,  round  body.  Promissory :  Containing  a 
promise;  as,  a  promissory  note.  Essential:  Necessary  or  in- 
dispensable. Discernible:  Apparent  or  visible.  Opportunity: 
A  fit  or  convenient  time.  Deceitful:  False  or  tricky.  Defer- 
ence: Respect  or  regard.  Insertion:  The  act  of  placing  in;  as, 
the  insertion  of  an  advertisement.  Facilitate:  To  make  easy; 
as,  to  facilitate  business.  Schenectady:  A  city  of  the  United 
States.  Adjacent:  Lying  near  or  bordering  on.  Souvenir:  A 
token  of  remembrance.  Conceding:  Yielding  or  giving  up;  as, 
conceding  a  point.  Lineage:  Line  of  descent  or  ancestry;  as, 
of  royal  lineage.  Deleterious:  Harmful  or  injurious;  as,  dele- 
terious to  health.  Horizontal:  On  a  level.  Patrimony:  An  es- 
tate inherited  from  one's  father.  Certificate:  A  written  testi- 
mony ;  as,  a  marriage  certificate.  Reservoir:  A  place  of  stor- 
age; as,  a  water  reservoir.  Privilege:  A  right;  as,  the  privi- 
lege of  voting. 

Arithmetic. — In  solving  problems  the  processes  should  be 
not  merely  indicated,  but  all  the  figures  necessary  in  solving 
each  problem  should  be  given  in  full.  The  answer  to  each 
problem  should  be  indicated  by  writing  "  Ans."  after  it. 

I.  This  question  comprises  a  test  in  adding  numbers  cross- 
wise and  lengthwise.  There  are  usually  three  columns  of 
about  twelve  numbers  each  to  be  added.  2.  Divide  47 
by  7%,  multiply  the  quotient  by  3%,  and  to  the  product  add 
0.0907  of  214.6.  3.  A  father  invested  a  sufficient  sum  of 
money  in  Massachusetts  5's  at  97>4)  brokerage  ^4  per  cent,  to 
give  his  son  an  annual  income  of  $1,200.  What  was  the  sum 
invested?  4.  The  appropriation  for  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1897,  was  $98,340. 
During  that  year  50,000  persons  were  examined.  If  34  per 
cent  of  this  number  failed  to  pass,  and  lyYi  per  cent  of  those 
who  passed  were  appointed,  what  was  the  average  cost  to  the 
Government  of  each  appointment?  5.  On  April  i,  1904,  Amos 
Ward  owed  Graves  &  Coon  $68.90  on  account.     April  4,  he 


324  APPENDIX  G  [324 

sold  them  68  barrels  potatoes  at  $2.75  per  barrel.  April  6, 
he  gave  them  a  draft  upon  San  Francisco  for  $1,860,  which 
they  accepted  at  ^  per  cent  discount.  April  9,  they  sold  Ward 
894  bushels  corn  at  38^  cents  per  bushel.  April  16,  they 
bought  of  him  2,960  feet  lumber  at  $1.25  per  hundred  feet. 
April  19,  they  sold  him  ZAVz  dozen  chairs  at  90  cents  each. 
April  21,  Ward  bought  of  them  1,260  eggs  at  14  cents  per 
dozen.  April  28,  he  gave  them  a  note  for  $1,820  due  in  60 
days.  April  29,  he  bought  of  them  2,980  pounds  hay  at  $15 
a  ton.  Make  an  itemized  statements  of  the  above  account  as 
it  should  appear  taken  from  the  books  of  Ward ;  make  a  proper 
heading;  close  the  account,  and  bring  down  the  balance  as  it 
should  have  appeared  May  i,  1904. 

Geography  and  civil  government  of  the  United  States. — 
N.  B. — Competitors  are  cautioned  not  to  exceed  the  number 
of  points  called  for  in  the  question,  as  the  full  value  of  a  point 
will  be  charged  for  each  incorrect  point  in  the  answer. 

I.  Name  States  (or  Territories,  if  any)  as  follows:  Two 
which  border  Florida  on  the  north ;  two  which  border  Colo- 
rado on  the  north ;  two  which  border  New  York  on  the  east ; 
two  which  border  Wisconsin  on  the  west;  one  which  borders 
Oregon  on  the  north;  one  which  borders  New  Hampshire  on 
the  east.  2.  Name  the  largest  two  rivers  which  border  on 
Kentucky;  the  largest  two  lakes  which  border  on  Michigan; 
the  largest  two  sounds  on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina;  the 
two  bodies  of  water  which  the  Niagara  River  conn'ects ;  a  river 
which  borders  on  Nevada;  the  river  on  which  Omaha  is  situ- 
ated. 3.  In  what  State  (or  Territory,  if  any)  is  each  of  the 
following-named  prominent  cities  located:  Asheville,  Trini- 
dad, Amsterdam,  Findlay,  Lynchburg,  Sedalia,  Walla  Walla, 
Keene,  Macon,  Superior.  4.  (a)  How  are  justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  appointed?  (h)  How  many  amendments  have 
been  added  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States?  5.  (a) 
Name  two  ways  in  which  a  bill  may  become  a  law  without  the 
President's  signature.  {h)  Name  the  following  officials: 
Speaker  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives ;  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  United  States ;  Secretary  of  State. 


VITA 

The  author  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  in 
1888.  He  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1909  with  the 
degree  of  A.B. ;  studied  at  Oxford,  and  received  the 
degree  of  B.A.  in  jurisprudence  with  Second  Class  Honors 
in  191 1 ;  and  subsequently  studied  the  English  civil  service 
in  London.  He  entered  the  School  of  Political  Science, 
Columbia  University,  in  the  fall  of  1912,  and  attended  the 
lectures  and  seminars  of  Professors  Goodnow,  Munroe 
Smith,  Seager,  Simkhovitch,  Powell,  and  Sait. 

323 


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